NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO — Hidalgo junior Barbie Gutierrez admits that her team didn’t handle the 2017 volleyball season, a down year, very well. After a playoff appearance in 2016, the team graduated a lot of its top talent, and the Pirates took a step back last season.
“Last year, everyone had a bad attitude,” Gutierrez said. “We were never together. It was me and two of the seniors, and we were really bad with everybody. Myself included. We were just frustrated about everything — about losing.”
She had a taste of winning during her sophomore season, even though she didn’t play much.
Gutierrez went from playing a small part on a 10-4 playoff team to watching that record flip to 4-10.
“Even I said, ‘This year will be the same thing. We’re the returning ones. There’s nobody new,’” Gutierrez said. “Then, it just switched around everything completely. In non-district, we would win, and it was surprising, and we were like, ‘OK, we can actually do this.’ District started, and we’re just taking everybody.”
With a 6-0 district record so far, the team’s spirits are higher, and people are taking notice. Hidalgo’s five-set win over La Feria on Sept. 11 was unexpected from the outside, and even up close.
“We surprised ourselves,” Gutierrez said. “Our school, everybody comes to our games now. The crowd is loud, and it’s really, really fun. Hidalgo hasn’t won district in 14 years. La Feria always takes it, so it felt good to beat them.”
Hidalgo has not won a district title in a long time. Even their playoff drought was long before the Pirates reached the 2016 postseason.
Gutierrez has been the offense’s go-to player during her senior season. However, the juniors who got their taste of varsity last year are also pivotal pieces.
“(Sophomore season) was really tough, because my coach would pick on me to get better, because I was the tallest,” 6-foot junior Melanie Salinas said. “Everybody was newcomers to the team, so it was a step up for everybody.”
The team was sophomore-heavy a year ago. The exception was a small group of upperclassmen, who didn’t make life easier. Salinas was a player who made the jump straight from the freshman team to the varsity unit.
“Last year, everyone got moved up, but also there were only two seniors, and those seniors would bring us down,” Salinas said. “They had a lot of negativity. When we were doing good, they would envy us, at times.”
“Last year, we took a lot of hard hits, and we had a rough year,” Hidalgo coach Kay Benavidez said. “Now, since they played last year with each other, they have the experience. They’re working very well together, and it’s made the biggest difference in the world.”
Salinas has progressed nicely this season. She routinely is in the mix to lead the team in kills from the middle blocker position. A season ago, Gutierrez and Salinas weren’t on great terms. This year, Gutierrez and Salinas are a one-two punch.
“Since (the seniors) left, her attitude changed a lot,” Salinas said of Gutierrez. “I feel like she’s a new person to the team. She has way more positivity. I, myself, and I think everyone in the front row, we look up to her a lot.”
“Honestly, I know more about the girls now than I knew last year,” Gutierrez said. “I didn’t know anything about them, and now they come to me and they tell me personal stuff. I’m like, ‘Whoa, you actually trust me.’ Now, when someone puts their head down on the court, we all just pick each other up.”
Don’t talk about the 14-year district title drought too loud, because Benavidez and Salinas are committed to focusing on one game at a time. But with first-round wins over La Feria, Rio Hondo and Zapata, the Pirates might have the inside lane to history.