By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons are in the midst of back-to-back challenges that could lead them to another outright District 32-6A championship.
First, they triumphed 25-18, 9-25, 25-9, 25-19 on Saturday at Harlingen South. Now comes another big test against Rivera at 6:30 p.m. today in Los Fresnos.
At 5-1, Rivera is right behind the 6-0 Lady Falcons in the 32-6A standings. South (3-3) is tied with Harlingen High (3-3) in third place. Rounding out the six-team district are Hanna (1-5) and San Benito (0-6).
After seeing her team defeat South on Saturday and knowing Rivera was the next opponent, Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said, “The closer we get to the end of this district race, the more the stress level goes up. We have four more district matches to go. Let’s see how it goes.”
The other two 32-6A matches at 6:30 p.m. today find Harlingen High at Hanna and San Benito at South.
The Lady Cardinals want to have a strong showing against Hanna. The two teams went five sets during the first round of district Sept. 24 at Harlingen High, with the Lady Cardinals winning 17-25, 25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 15-7.
“It’s a huge match for us (against Hanna),” Lady Cardinals coach Joslynn Torres said. “The key for us is to be ready to set the tone in Game 1, Point 1. In the first round of district we let Hanna hang around too long. We know we can’t allow that to happen because the playoffs are on the line for both of us.
“We know the environment that we will be playing in (at Hanna),” Torres added. “The girls have the mindset of going in and getting the job done by taking care of business quickly.”
TAPPS PLAYOFFS
The St. Joseph Academy Lady Bloodhounds have qualified for the TAPPS playoffs as the third-place team in their district behind Victoria St. Joseph and Laredo St. Augustine.
This is the Lady Bloodhounds’ third varsity season and it’s their second in TAPPS. This year marks the second time they’re advancing to the TAPPS playoffs.
“We are excited to make our second playoff appearance in TAPPS,” SJA coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino said. “We are going to play either Houston Cypress Christian or Houston Emery Weiner. We will be the higher seed, so we might get to play at home (in the first round).
“I’m extremely proud of the girls for stepping up in spite of losing half of our varsity starters (to transfers, etc.),” Olguin-Trevino added. “It just proves their hard work will pay off with persistence.”
The Lady Bloodhounds will be hosts of a “Dig Pink” cancer awareness match today at SJA.
The opponent will be San Isidro. The cancer awareness event will take place after the junior varsity match, which starts at 4:30 p.m. Fans are asked to be at the gym by 5 p.m. with the presentation scheduled between 5:15-5:30 p.m.
STRONG SHOWING
The Porter Cowgirls came up with a strong showing in defeating Mercedes 25-14, 25-23, 25-19 on Saturday at Porter.
Stat leaders for the Cowgirls included Liberty Garza (20 digs, two aces), Azaneth Perez (eight kills, two aces, 13 digs), Katherine Salas (14 kills, nine digs, one ace), Anahi Villarreal (eight kills, two blocks), Marisol Martinez (two kills, two aces), Mickey Garcia (nine kills, three aces, two blocks) and Ashley Pena (41 assists, two kills, one ace, seven digs).
The Cowgirls next play at 7 p.m. today at Valley View.
32-5A UPDATE
Going into today’s District 32-5A action, Edcouch-Elsa is the leader at 9-0, and Brownsville Veterans Memorial is second at 8-1.
Donna High and Mercedes share third place with 5-4 records. Pace is 4-5, Porter is 3-6, Lopez is 2-7 and Valley View is 0-9.
EAST VALLEY TOP FIVE
1. Los Fresnos
3. Harlingen South
4. Brownsville Veterans Memorial
5. Harlingen High