ELSA — McAllen Memorial stepped onto the Edcouch-Elsa volleyball court with one thing on its mind — taking care of business.
A couple minutes more than an hour later, business was complete as the Mustangs quickly finished a dominant performancewith a 25-8, 25-14, 25-14 win over the Yellow Jackets in the UIL Class 5A bi-district round of the state playoffs.
The first order of business was to stop, or slow down, E-E’s all universe hitter, Vida Ybarra, and the Mustangs did that byblocking her twice during the first part of the first set, and when she tried to go around the block, libero Kassie Falcon and otherMustangs defenders were in position to keep the rally alive.
Ybarra still scored her points, being the main go-to player in any of the six rotation positions, but the Mustangs didn’t make iteasy for her, forcing E-E out of system often and keeping the players on their heels with powerful attacks of their own.
Leading that surge was junior Amare Hernandez, who seemed to have a little more lightning to go with her thunderous ground-seeking missiles. Hernandez ended the night with a match-high 17 kills, and Madisyn Sosa and Leah Garcia – all three arejuniors — each added six kills, and Alicia Ziegler tallied five kills and four blocks.
“We didn’t come in taking them for granted because we know they have a great hitter,” Hernandez said. “But I think it wasimportant to stay on our ‘A’ game and run fast plays before we go up North.
“It set a tone for the other teams. It lets them know we aren’t here to play around, and I think it’s important to take it veryseriously but take it calm as well.”
(Check out the photo album from the Memorial vs. E-E game here: https://rgvsports.com/albums/mcallen-memorial-vs-edcouch-elsa-volleyball/99/)
McAllen Memorial will play Gregory-Portland in the second round later this week with time and place to be determined. G-Pdefeated Mission Veterans in five sets Tuesday night.
Ziegler, along with fellow middle Kaitlyn Martin and Leah Garcia, provided a nearly impenetrable wall for Ybarra or any of theother E-E hitters to attack through. Ybarra found some openings with harsh cuts during some of her attacks and a couple downthe line, but the Mustangs kept their focus on slowing her mighty swing down.
The plan was to watch her and see how she plays and adjust to how she’s hitting today because it can change,” Ziegler said. “Itdefinitely set a serious tone for us blocking their best hitter, and it sent them a message.
“We’re here for business. We are here to win this in three.”
Memorial head coach Ashley Doffing, who has talked all year about “hiccups” the team would go through in matches, said it wasnice to see those getting worked out.
“It was nice to watch them move in unison on the defensive end, especially because of all the big guns we’re going to be seeing,”she said. “We’ve been working a ton on defense all last week and they played great. For a small body, Kassie (Falcon) takes up alot of court.”
Most impressive about Falcon’s performance Tuesday was that she never seemed out of place, where she would have to sacrificeher body for a save. Instead, she read nearly every attack from Ybarra with a keen eye, and pinpoint passing led to several quicktransition attacks for Memorial.
“I just did what I always do, play my best and give it everything I have,” she said. “We kind of changed our defense and we arerunning a read defense, and I play at the six and it gives me more room on the court and doesn’t keep me limited to my spot.”
This will be the third straight year Gregory-Portland and McAllen Memorial will meet in the playoffs. Memorial won two yearsago, and G-P earned revenge last year.