By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
In the race to prepare for district volleyball competition, Brownsville Veterans Memorial appears to be ahead of Hanna judging by Saturday’s non-district match between the Lady Chargers and Lady Golden Eagles.
Brownsville Veterans won 25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16 on Hanna’s court.
District 32-5A competition starts Sept. 14 for the Lady Chargers, who placed second behind Edcouch-Elsa in district play one year ago.
“We’re not exactly ready (for district) just yet,” Brownsville Veterans coach Elizabeth Mares said. “These next few (non-district) matches will be good for us (and help us prepare). I think we still need some more work.”
Still, the Lady Chargers exhibited more strong moments of solid play Saturday than the Lady Eagles, who are determined to improve as well before district begins.
“We had some good moments today, and we just have to make those good moments last a little longer,” said Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann, whose team begins District 32-6A action Sept. 21. “Yes, we need to extend those good moments, and as I said before, we’ve come on a long, long journey (with a group of new players since the beginning of the season on Aug. 1).
“We haven’t placed all that well in some of our tournaments, although we did fairly well in the Sharyland Tournament,” added Hagemann, who said his team is awaiting a player who could help out to return from injury. “We want to hang with the big programs in our district, and that’s why we’re playing these good teams right now (in non-district).”
The score was tied at 2, 7, 8 and 11 in the first set before the Lady Chargers went ahead for good, 12-11, during the initial game thanks to an ace by Valeria Sumaya. Brownsville Veterans continued to add to its lead and won the first game 25-16 when the Lady Eagles had a hitting miscue and the ball went out on the final point of the set.
There were ties at 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 23 during the second game before back-to-back kills by Hanna’s Odalys Gonzalez put the Lady Eagles up 24-23. A net violation by the Lady Chargers enabled Hanna to take the set 25-23.
The Lady Chargers were in control of the third game for pretty much the entire way, and even led 24-15 after a hit that carried out by Hanna. That was before the Lady Eagles reeled off eight straight points to pull within 24-23 on a cross-court kill by Gonzalez.
From there, a hit by Brownsville Veterans’ Abby Padilla went off a Hanna player and carried out to give the Lady Chargers a 25-23 victory in the third set.
Highlighting the fourth game were four aces during a span of five points by Brownsville Veterans’ Alexandra Parchmont early in the set. Her fourth ace during her team’s five-point run made it 9-3 and set the stage for the eventual match victory. Parchmont finished the day with six aces.
The Lady Chargers never trailed after Parchmont’s serving display and won the fourth game and match thanks to Sumaya’s cross-court kill to make it 25-16 in the final game.
Parchmont added 30 digs to go with her six aces. Other standouts for the Lady Chargers were Dominique Mena (24 kills, 16 digs), Daniela Espinosa (35 assists), Galilea Martinez (six blocks, five kills) and Padilla (seven kills).
For Hanna, the stat leaders were Gonzalez (19 kills, four blocks), Joanna Garza (three kills), Rebekah Schlatter (four kills, six digs), Jenna Otero (14 digs), Rianna Trevino (13 digs), Camille Atkinson (16 assists) and Arlette Limas (two kills, one block).
Non-district action continues for both teams at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Hanna is at home against Mission Veterans Memorial and Brownsville Veterans is at PSJA High.