EDINBURG — PSJA High never seemed to be a threat Tuesday in the third set of their District 31-6A match against Edinburg North.
The teams split the first two sets and the Cougars held leads of 6-0 and 16-8, winning every facet of the set, offensively and defensively. The Cougars were in command.
Then, suddenly it seemed, the Bears faced three set points after slowly getting back into the match. When Johanna Montelongo smashed a North service return that went long, the Bears had completed what looked to be an improbable comeback.
The fifth set, however, was different as PSJA jumped out to its own 6-0 lead and never stumbled to claim a 22-25, 25-22, 28-26, 25-14 victory.
It was a critical match for both teams. The win pushes the defending district champion Bears to 8-0 in district. Edinburg North dropped to 6-2, both losses coming to PSJA. Edinburg High began the night 5-2. PSJA has Edinburg High and Mission remaining on the schedule.
The Bears had lost each of its last two trips to Edinburg North. Another loss would have put the teams into a tie for first.
Julianna Guajardo and Montelongo paced the Bears’ offense with 16 and 10 kills respectively. Chloe De La Rosa contributed nine kills and Ilana Vallejo added six. After some changes to the defense, which played sloppily especially in the first set, Alexa Carranza tallied 25 digs and Serenity Lopez added 14. Setter Victoria Gonzalez finished with 30 assists, 10 digs and one block.
Montelongo said the team started out terribly slow, but part of that was Edinburg North’s early attack and finding the openings in the back row.
“We set up our back row to cover the line because they tend to hit down the line a lot and then they started hitting 6 (a spot on the court) so we had to shift over,” Montelongo said. “I had a slow start, but after the (crowd sang) Happy Birthday to me that got me going and even though I was down, my team was motivating me.
A distraught North team that had piled on attacks from hitters Etsel Ramirez, Gaia Benesperi and Maya Espinoza and extended rallies with a solid performance from libero Gaby Espinoza, just couldn’t recover after the fourth-set collapse. PSJA pressed from behind the service line to extinguish a rally before it started.
“We just kept pushing and cheering and wanted to get in their heads,” Montelongo said. “What really helped out were our serves they couldn’t pick up in the fourth set. Lexci (Reyes) is a freshman, and she served great in the fourth. It was tough but we pulled through.”