BY HENRY MILLER | STAFF WRITER
The response came out just like after most questions – with a politically correct tone, down the middle. Don’t say anything another team will put on their lockers for motivation.
The question was succinct; no use not being direct: Will Mission Veterans Memorial win a volleyball state championship someday?
“That’s the goal, that’s what we strive for every year,” came the public-relations response from coach Diana Trevino Lerma.
But if you know Lerma, that response was eating away at her. After those words rattled out, her eyes started wandering, darting all over the interview room; she wanted to say more.
The question was put out there again. Will the Patriots win a state championship in volleyball?
It was too much to handle for the fiercely competitive Lerma. She’s like the Floyd Mayweather of high school volleyball. Nobody can take her down (if they do, she pops right back up) and when she speaks, she usually delivers.
Without missing a beat, in the same matter-of-fact tone as she answers all questions, the words came out. “We’ll win a state championship,” she said, tapping her fingers on the table for emphasis – and to make sure everyone paid attention. “We’ll win it this year.”
Nobody batted an eyelash after her comment, honestly, it was expected. Her sister Gloria Trevino, first-year coach at Edcouch-Elsa, just nodded her head a little in support. She wasn’t hearing anything new. She’s just as competitive – in fact, they cautioned not to play cards in their household … it’s not pretty. “We have to do our victory laps when we win,” Diana joked. “We are incredibly competitive.”
Lerma has good reason to believe this is the year. The Patriots are ranked No. 3 in Class 5A in the latest High School Volleyball Coaches Poll and their resume of victories – 35 so far with just three losses – is as impressive as many 6A schools in the state. In fact, Mission Veterans has defeated some of those ranked 6A schools as part of what has been an amazing season.
The regular season for high school volleyball concludes today. Both sisters’ teams have already clinched the district title and are trying to close out with an undefeated district season. Mission Veterans plays what should be an unthreatening Roma team; Edcouch-Elsa faces revenge-seeking Brownsville Veterans, the team that had won the district in each of the past four years, only to be unseated by the rookie coach and her Yellow Jackets.
“We went five with them last time and they’re going to be gunning for us,” Trevino said. “We know that, and the girls are prepared. They want to finish out the season undefeated in district. It’s a goal we’ve had set.”
Lerma and her Patriots, not to be disrespectful, are past district titles being a goal. In the 16 years she has guided Mission Veterans, 14 of them have been district championships – nine of them undefeated and that will be five in a row if they put away Roma today.
Lerma was hired the same year the school opened.
“They told me it would take three years to be a winning program,” she said. “We won the district title that first year.”
If the slogan “Just win baby” applies to anyone in the Valley it would be Lerma, and the rest of the Trevino family. In all, there are four sisters – Diana Trevino Lerma, Gloria Trevino, Leticia Trevino Ibarra (Mission Veterans High School Athletic Director) and Sonia Trevino (a chiropractor – and part of the four-time then-Metro Conference champion Florida State teams).
“People kind of joke about that but that’s just how competitive we are,” Trevino said. The two coaches/sisters joked about during the time when they were filling out their non-district schedules for this year.
“Nobody wants to play us here in the Valley,” Lerma said.
“I did,” Trevino responded.
“You were going to take a loss there, so I said no,” Lerma added. Ironically, in the 16 years leading the program, Lerma and the Patriots have only 12 district losses (Lerma also surpassed 600 wins this season). The team who beat them the most? None other than Edcouch-Elsa, twice.
There’s a chance the two could meet in the Class 5A playoffs. They’ve already been looking at the possibilities. Both know they have to beat some quality opponents on the way, but a third-round matchup is quite a possibility.
Lerma said she’s thrilled to see her younger sister have an opportunity to coach at the high school level and be tasked with bringing a traditional powerhouse back to that status. Just like her older sister, Trevino is on track – first year, first district title.
“There is no offseason – seasons stop but athletes don’t,” Trevino said. “It’s a lot of hard work and dedication.”
“It takes a lot to be the best,” Lerma said. “Not just the best coach at the time, but being the best in working at how the program is going to continue. It takes a lot of discipline and hard work year round. You don’t need just a chaperone. In the summer I’ll do her camps and she’ll coach my girls. Tell me, is there anything better than that?”
Volleyball runs through the blood of this family, but it all started with the generation of the four sisters. They all played volleyball for the same coach, Carmella Martinez at Mission High and dabbled with other sports, like basketball and cheerleading. But they all found a passion in volleyball and are spreading it to the next generation. Lerma coaches her niece, standout Jackie Howell (also Sonia Trevino’s daughter) and her daughter, Kassy Lerma.
“What makes a successful program is having a leader who knows how to get it done and see how far they are willing to go to get it done,” Lerma said. “Who’s going to help them and who are they going to help along the way.
“Jackie wants to go to the next level and was saying she just wanted to go anywhere. ‘I’ve won long enough,’ she told us. ‘I want to be a part of helping somebody else win too.’ I mean that’s her mom’s mentality – we’re talking about a kid here.”
What we’re talking about is another athlete with Trevino blood who was given a volleyball more than likely at or near birth and who may be called a state champion when the year finishes.