This story has been updated with a corrected dates.
Harlingen South stayed close to PSJA High for the first two sets of their UIL Class 6A bi-district playoff matchup Tuesday.
Dinks, pushes, tips, roll shots to the lines or cut wide were giving the District 31-6A top seed fits. That’s when PSJA High head coach Carolina Cuellar made some adjustments. In the end, instead of it being a match of soft shots, Kaylah Hernandez, Johanna Montelongo and a host of PSJA hitters powered the Bears to a 26-24, 25-21, 25-14 sweep over the visiting Hawks, the No. 4 seed from District 32-6A.
The win sends PSJA High to a second-round matchup against San Antonio Harlan, which swept Laredo Alexander in their match. Details for the area-round game will be determined today.
The Bears hoisted a bi-district trophy following the match, the first such victory for the Bears in more than a decade. A banner in the gym shows the last bi-district victory coming in 1992 but PSJA did advance to the Class 5A regional championship match in 1995. A story from The Monitor from November 1995 reads that “the Lady Bears became the first Rio Grande Valley volleyball team ever to win at the Region IV-5A tournament” after beating Pflugerville 8-15, 15-13, 15-9 at UTSA.
Montelongo, a sophomore, paced the Bears with 14 kills and a pair of aces, while Hernandez, a senior, added seven kills, four blocks and two aces. PSJA had seven players register at least four kills during the match.
Freshman lefty Malloree Mireles provided most of the power for Harlingen South, coming up big from the back row, on both sides of the front row and on quick attacks in the middle. The rest of the team worked more on placing the ball, either cross court and wide or deep down the lines, with a plethora of softer shots, choosing precision over power.
“It was definitely tough at the beginning and we didn’t see that on film too much. Saw a lot of them swinging away,” Cuellar said. “But we talked about going through district and every game you learn something and these girls I’m really proud of them because every week they capitalized on something, they fixed it and tonight it showed.”
PSJA led 8-7 during the third set before libero Serenity Lopez served up six straight points, including one ace, a pair of kills from Montelongo and one from Emma Pedraza. The run, however, started when Hernandez solidly blocked Mireles on a back-row attack.
“We worked through that,” Hernandez said. “We went through film to make sure we knew what they would do. We knew they had that middle, the lefty (Mireles) and knew she would (hit to the five spot), even though she killed us on that we got a few blocks and we got them.”
Throughout the season, the Bears used their variety of hitters to find the hot hand. During the third set, it was Montelongo and Hernandez with those hot hands.
“Coach tells us once they’re hot, give it to them,” Hernandez said. “That’s what we did.”
After pushing the lead during the final set to 18-11, it was Hernandez who served up the next five points, collecting her two aces while also nailing a back-row kill. Jocelyn Serna also collected a kill, hammering the set into a Hawks double block that flew out of bounds.
“We adjusted our defense,” Montelongo said about the difference in play from the first and second sets to the third. “We moved Serenity deep, moved the outside back and just adjusted. They (Harlingen South) were really smart.
“Kaylah was doing great tonight. We have each other, always telling each other where to go and where to place the ball. We’re a team.”