WESLACO — Brownsville Porter’s Ashanti Roman elevated and delivered a stinging kill that found space between the Weslaco East lines to win a 25-16, 25-21, 25-19 match on the road against the Wildcats in a District 32-5A meeting Tuesday night.
Brownsville Porter is now 5-5 in district, and Weslaco East drops to 3-7. This was a pivotal match for both teams trying to keep up in the playoffs. Going into the night, both teams trailed Edcouch-Elsa’s fourth place 6-3 record.
“My girls are improving,” Porter head coach Ashley Martinez said. “In the first round of district we did not have some of our aces, this round we do. My girls are more confident, we are practicing harder, and we are excited. We are still in the playoff hunt, the girls notice that, and are playing up for it.”
The Cowgirls built a solid lead in the third set with nice serves. Roman served two aces to give her team a 13-6 lead. Porter maintained its lead with good serves and hitting to claim the sweep.
Weslaco East and Brownsville Porter jostled during the second set for a lead. With the scored tied at 15, Porter’s Ebony Garza and Roman scored kills to help the Cowgirls take a 21-17 lead.
Roman and Garza were assisted by Porter setter Melanie Ortiz. Roman found a hole in the Wildcats’ defense to win the set 25-21.
“I think I did great,” Roman said. “I was so happy that my team hyped themselves up and that they put in their all to finish in three sets. My setter, Melanie [Ortiz], helped me with all of my hits, she sent me really good balls tonight.”
Porter established a comfortable lead late in the first set. The Cowgirls went up 21-14 after trading points early. A kill by Roman deflected off a Wildcats player and into the stands to win the set.
“I am very proud of this program,” Martinez said. “We are a team to be feared and we are going to shock a lot of people this round.”
The Cowgirls will take on Brownsville Veterans Memorial at noon Saturday at home. Weslaco East is set to face Brownsville Lopez at noon Saturday at Brownsville Lopez.