By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
RAYMONDVILLE — The La Feria Lionettes defeated the Raymondville Lady Bearkats in three straight sets Tuesday in both teams’ first District 32-4A match and the first game of the season for the Lionettes.
La Feria coach Rebea Fraga said she saw some first-game jitters from her team, but overall felt the Lionettes played “really well” in a 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 sweep over the Lady ’Kats.
“We definitely looked rusty. You could tell the chemistry wasn’t there as much as it probably would have been had we had a normal preseason,” Fraga said. “But fortunately, we were able to put it together well enough to win. A lot to work on, but it was a good start.”
The teams played each other tight to start the match, exchanging ties and lead changes that typically stayed within two or three points. La Feria outside hitter/setter Reanne Fraga and Raymondville middle blocker Za Leah Gardner established themselves as standouts in the front row early in the opening set.
Missed serves and a lack of consistent hitting from Raymondville helped La Feria create the first bit of distance, opening a five-point lead the Lionettes managed to maintain despite the Lady ’Kats fighting off two set points to take the first set, 25-20.
The teams swapped scoring runs at the start of Set 2, but La Feria’s deeper arsenal of hitters kept the Lady ’Kats out of their system to help the Lionettes get a seven-point advantage midway through the set. Alani Garza and Sophia Cabrera were strong complements to Reanne Fraga in La Feria’s offensive attack throughout the match.
“I thought once our preliminary jitters were over, all of our hitters started to get more comfortable,” Rebea Fraga said. “Sometimes they were a little excited and leaving a little too soon, but it was a great performance for the whole team.”
But a well-used timeout called by Raymondville coach Norma Rodriguez stopped La Feria’s momentum, and the strong serving from Keighara Leija cut the Lady ’Kats’ deficit to three. Raymondville libero Mallorie Martinez performed well while anchoring the defense in the back row, but La Feria took advantage of too many Raymondville tips and free balls to put the second set away 25-20.
“I was so impressed with my back row. We’re just going to have to work on that hitting,” Rodriguez said. “Our back row was taking good care of that ball and getting it to our setters, but it was a lot of tipping. But as they practice more, I feel it’s going to come together.”
The Lionettes took control early in the third set as the Raymondville serve-receive struggled, but a hard kill by Miranda Hernandez woke up the Lady ’Kats, and she ignited a scoring run from the service line until the set was tied at 8. Leija again strung together some aces and shanked passes behind her serve to help Raymondville tie the set again at 15.
But with the Lady ’Kats still playing out of system offensively and sending over easy balls to La Feria, Reanne Fraga’s powerful swing and good serving from Cabrera opened a seven-point lead for the Lionettes. That resulted in a 25-17 set win for the sweep in their first match of the season.
“It was just getting comfortable with the game and starting another year, and I think we did pretty good overall,” Reanne Fraga said. “I think I did pretty good for our first game. Of course, there’s a lot of room for improvement for the rest of the season, but we’re just grateful that we’re able to play during these circumstances. I loved the energy (my team brought). No one was negative towards each other, and we had good communication.”
Despite the loss, Rodriguez was pleased with her young team’s performance. She said the team is improving every day, and with hard work and increased communication, she feels confident it will continue developing as the district season plays on.
“I saw a lot of good things. The girls are coming together, they’re communicating more,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a young team, so they haven’t really had the experience of a varsity level game, but I was happy with what I saw today and I know it’s going to get better.”