Tied at two sets apiece, Mission Veterans volleyball head coach Diana Lerma put the challenge to her team.
“I told them that we had already won district, that was locked up,” Lerma said. “But I asked did they want to be the ones where the streak ended?”
The streak, at that time, was eight straight seasons with an undefeated district record.
As the Patriots head to Kingsville to play Victoria West at 5 p.m. today in the bi-district round of UIL Class 5A volleyball tournament, the streak is now nine straight perfect district seasons.
It wasn’t easy. In fact, Lerma said she hasn’t gone through anything like what she and her team went through this year. The Patriots lost their only two non-district matches of the late-starting season, to McAllen Memorial in four sets and to PSJA High in five sets after winning the first two sets.
The Patriots fought challenges from their District 30-5A opponents all season, dropping a set in each of the first five district matches before finally claiming a three-set sweep in the sixth match of the season. For a program that has lost just 10 district matches in 18 seasons, and won 16 titleS in 21years, the thought that someone in District 30-5A would knock the Patriots from atop the mountain gained interest from volleyball enthusiasts — from fans to opponents to coaches — and gave them something to keep an eye on.
“I was getting phone calls and they were saying, ‘You really went four, Coach?’” Lerma said. “But a win is a win, and this is how you grow. This is how you get better.”
Seven seniors graduated from last year’s district championship team, and this year’s squad is sophomore-heavy with eight, and that includes the only two returners from last year. Three seniors, three juniors and one freshman make up the rest of the team which, like most across the Valley, decided to not create a JV squad due to the coronavirus pandemic and went with larger numbers on the varsity squad.
Lerma has navigated through limited practice time to help her young team bond. That, she felt, was going to be critical for her team’s success this year.
“A single player is like a pencil. It’s easier to break, but when you put all 15 pencils together, they’re stronger and difficult to break,” Lerma said. “We play as a team, we play toward our strengths, the girls have seen that and have grown a lot this season. Despite all the bonding things we haven’t been able to do, we still find ways to grow as a team and to turn 15 individual heartbeats into one.”
Playing toward their strengths means setting the ball up for one of the two returners, hitter Rylie Barnett (the other is sophomore Michaela Perez), who is among the most feared and powerful hitters in the Rio Grande Valley. Her strength, vertical jump and prowess at the net, more often than not, is simply overpowering. Even blockers react with a cringe when successfully blocking Barnett, even though their hands may not feel very successful. During the team’s five-set finale against Laredo Martin, Lerma challenged her star hitter.
“I told her when she went to that back row to be ready to hit from back there, and was she ready,” Lerma said. “She said she was and the team knew that was what we were going to do, and we did and we won. Reilly is a force to be reckoned with. You can’t ignore her.”