GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
ALAMO — When PSJA Memorial volleyball coach Angie Gonzales told her players they would be waving to opposing servers and telling them to ‘Bring it on’ before every point, the first person to get on board was sophomore Kristi Gomez.
Her teammates were shy or worried about offending the other team, but Gomez wasn’t. During early tournament action, she would say it quietly: “Serve it here.” Then, setter Carla De Leon started to join her. In time, the rest of the team bought in.
“We don’t care if the serves are really hard. It’s going to be OK,” Gomez said. “It’s just a serve. It’s nothing. You’re not going to be scared. You go with confidence.”
That’s been the mantra all season for the Lady Wolverines, who at 7-1 are in the thick of the District 31-6A title race.
Gomez has been a primary catalyst for the turnaround from last year’s 5-7 campaign, slamming home powerful kills and stepping forward as the team’s emotional leader.
“She’s just fearless,” Gonzales said. “That’s the best word I can think of to describe her. She’s fearless, and she’s aggressive. That’s a big difference from last year. Last year, she was timid. This year, she’s taking control.”
Gomez said she got the mentality from her father, who helped her get her start in volleyball when she was in fifth grade.
While Gomez has talent on par with any of the Valley’s best players, she’s never been part of a club or travel team. Instead, Gomez honed her skills on a sand court in a public park near her home.
“We always practice in that park,” Gomez said. “When you go play on sand, it’s more heavy, so you feel like a feather here.”
Gomez said she and her father practice every day during the offseason. He’ll toss her a set, she’ll smash the kill and retrieve the ball, and then they repeat.
Other times, Gomez and her sister will scrimmage two-on-two against her father and her brother. On school days, Gomez brings her own beach volleyball and practices outside with other students during lunch period.
“She’s constantly touching a volleyball,” Gonzales said. “Her mentality is: ‘Volleyball is life.’”
The grass roots development process is fitting for Gomez, who teammates describe as humble despite her dominance on the court.
She got her first crack at varsity play early last season, starting out primarily as a defender. As she built a rapport with the rest of the roster, she became more central in the attack, eventually being named the district’s newcomer of the year.
Coming back this season, Gomez has taken on the role of team captain. “Even though she was a vital component on our team (last year), she wasn’t as outspoken as she is now,” Gonzales said. “Now, she’s not as timid. She’s not as shy. She’s a leader.”
When a teammate makes a mistake, Gonzales said Gomez is the first to offer a high five or pick her up off the floor. She is the player accountable for making sure the Lady Wolverines communicate and follow the three C’s for playing a ball on defense: call, commit, confirm.
Gomez has rained kills from everywhere on the court, and setters De Leon and Amanda Aguilera have learned they can go to her in just about any scenario.
“If we’re in a big rally, or if we’re not getting the ball over and we’ve been losing a lot of points, I look to her in those kind of situations,” Aguilera said. “No matter where she’s at.”
Said De Leon: “She’s very good at finding holes. If I set her, she’s very quick to look at the other side of the net. I know even if it’s a bad set, she’ll make me look like an awesome setter.”
The Lady Wolverines credit their success to a new mentality, and to buying in to the 10 laws Gonzales has them recite daily before practice. Gomez said the most impactful to her was No. 10: A sister’s bond can never be broken.
De Leon’s favorite is ‘Team before self.” She said she used to be a “very selfish” player, one who cried when Gonzales first moved her from libero to setter.
“I really put that law into practice,” De Leon said. “If I had to give up my jersey so my team can go farther, I was willing to do that. … To see my team be better, by switching that one role, it brings me joy.”
Under the laws, PSJA Memorial is a more positive and assertive team, one that no longer crumbles when it falls behind, De Leon said. Instead, the Lady Wolverines ask for the ball, telling the server they’re ready for any challenge.
Aguilera said the move “freaks out” other teams and forces errors, and De Leon said it builds the Lady Wolverines’ confidence.
Gonzales knows the tactic has ruffled some feathers with other coaches in the district, but she’s become more comfortable taking that aggressive approach now that she’s in her third season. With a strong first half of district under their belts, the Lady Wolverines aren’t about to back off.
“When we face bigger teams, it’s never about who is across the net — it’s about us,” Aguilera said. “Every time we step on the court, we’re going to get a win. We always have that mentality.”