It truly was Christmas for Evana Ramos on Friday, when she made two trips to Starbucks.

Rarely does the Edinburg North early graduate, and self-admitted Starbucks addict, have that much time during a day.

“She’ll start training at like 5 a.m., get ready for school or her day, go to practice after school and then have another practice and training session and get home about 10 or 11 p.m.,” Edinburg North head volleyball coach Raul McCallum said. “Then she’ll do it all over the next day.”

Her dominance this year on the volleyball court, as a libero, was second to none and because of her outstanding year has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year.

“She was a coach’s dream,” McCallum said. “Every year she got better and she knew what she wanted and would tell the girls on the team, ‘If you want something, you have to work for it.’ You get a player like that once in a blue moon. We were blessed.”

Earlier this year, Ramos signed her national letter of intent to play for UTRGV. She has graduated from Edinburg North and is already working with the UTRGV volleyball team, while continuing to train with the RGV Venom volleyball program. Coaches throughout District 31-6A commented often during the past season about Ramos’ rigorous training routine and how difficult she was to contend with as a player, leading the team in digs, kills, serve-receive passing (an astounding 98.4% success rate, according to McCallum) and aces.

She’s the first to admit, however, that what changed the most about her this year was her attitude and the way she led the Cougars, communicating and working with her teammates to help make them better players and, thus, a stronger team.

“As a freshman, when I went into Venom, I had a terrible attitude on and off the court,” Ramos said. “(Venom directors of operations) Todd (Lowery, who is also the UTRGV head coach) and Missy (Lowery, his wife,) helped me so much with that. They made me realize that playing is not so much a job and taught me how to be happy with what I was doing. I think this year was a big example of being positive on the court.”

“I was very mean in the past and I wasn’t trying to be. I have learned to make it where I push people in a positive way instead of bringing people down. It made a huge difference for me and my team.”

A setter for some of her freshman year, before being moved to libero near the end of that season, Ramos put up staggering numbers. Her junior year she led the nation in the regular season with 1,153 digs according to MaxPreps.com. Last year, as a senior, she collected 445 digs during a season cut by more than half due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I told her as a sophomore that the libero spot was hers and that’s where she has been. Nobody could do what she did as a sophomore. This year, she took over as a leader and helped us by keeping the girls calm, teaching them how to read the play and what to look for,” McCallum said. “Those were things we hadn’t seen from her before.

“On the court she was our go-to player. She knew where the serve or the attack was coming and she would shift. Like a baseball player who can pick up the rotation and see the seams once a pitcher releases it, she would to the same — see it rotating, read what brand the ball was and just knew where it was going.”

Ramos was as deadly an attacker from the back row, often receiving the serve or first ball and preparing for a back-row attack on the third ball.

“She could’ve played all the way around because she was a great front-row player as well,” McCallum said. “But for one I didn’t want to take the chance of her getting injured and she was just so good at that back row.”

Ramos will start school at UTRGV when the next semester begins. Her major is mass communications/journalism. Her goal, however, is to prepare for the next level of volleyball after college.

“I want to eventually play overseas,” said Ramos, who had a peach black tea on her first trip Friday to Starbucks and then an almond milk iced coffee with almond milk foam. “But right now the girls at UTRGV are helping me with my transition and it’s very different how they push you to get better. There’s no letting up and that’s what I want to do, get better every day. And I’ll work for it.”

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When it came to efficiently running an offense this volleyball season, there were few, if any, who provided more opportunities for success as much as McAllen High senior setter Madison Helmcamp.

From spreading the ball around to her hitters, to sneaking a second-ball dump to surprise the opponent to running the length of the court to reach a ball in hopes of setting up yet another McHi attack, Helmcamp had a season unlike others during a COVID-19 pandemic that made the season unlike any other.

For her incredible performance during the year, Helmcamp has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Setter of the Year.

“I was going through some pictures and saw some of her as a freshman and she was just a tiny little girl,” McHi head coach Paula Dodge said. “Now she’s an outstanding athlete who worked so hard throughout those years to improve her game both physically and mentally. Her quickness and knowledge of the game is more than 10 times more as when she started as a freshman.”

Helmcamp’s movement on the court was fluid, and her play was so consistent and outstanding that when she had her hands on the ball the expectations were nothing but positive. Those expectations were met more often than not. From serving to setting to even chalking up some kills and some blocks, Helmcamp, also named theh District 30-5A Most Valuable Player, was a threat in all areas of the sport, as her stats indicate.

Helmcamp led the team in assists, with 490, or 8.3 assists per set. According to MaxPreps.com, she also had 1,603 ball handling attempts with just three errors, a staggering high success rate. Running a 5-1 offense, which means she was the only setter on the court, at all times, Helmcamp also found ways to tally 31 kills, 0.5 kills per set, and nine blocks. Those numbers from a setter are icing the cake.

She also led the team with 45 aces, 175 points and a 96.4% service success rate. On a team that advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, Helmcamp was the conductor that led the orchestra to play in harmony.

“I knew I had to be a leader and I tried to emphasize the things I did to try and bring the team together and make us as strong as we could be,” she said. “I felt like this year I wasn’t as stressed, more of a have fun and play, but still play smart mentality, like I have to get this done mentality. I felt way more calm this year.

“As you get older the game gets faster and last year in club we worked on calming everything down and I took that and brought it to McHi. Play aggressive still, but don’t freak ourselves out.”

The season was an emotional rollercoaster ride before it began, with uncertainty looming as to whether there would be a season in the first place. When the district-only season began, there were three games a week, including doubleheaders Saturdays. McHi was tied for first before it had to forfeit some games and go under quarantine.

When they returned, the dropped a tough five-setter to city rival McAllen Memorial. The Bulldogs needed to go perfect the rest of the regular season to simply clinch the fourth and final playoff berth.

And they did.

They went on to beat District 32-5A champion Brownsville Veterans, in Brownsville, in four sets, then traveled to Alice to beat Corpus Christi Veterans in five sets.

That set up a third matchup with McAllen Memorial. On the line: a trip to the Sweet 16.

“That was my favorite match of the year, playing them then after the season we had and all that we went through,” said Helmcamp, who led the Bulldogs to a convincing four-set win, her play setting the tone the entire match. “As a senior, I was ready to give it my all and go out with a bang.”

The Bulldogs lost to a taller and extremely powerful Dripping Springs squad in the next round, but not before Helmcamp added another moment signature moment, solo blocking Dripping Springs’ 6-foot sophomore superstar to end a long rally and, at that point, a critical point in the match.

“Yeah, I was pretty excited about that,” she said.

Helmcamp was one of four seniors on the team. Their years of experience showed, as did their determination to play at the highest level, one last time.

“She just progressed so much and you want to see your athletes grow and she did that in all aspects of the game,” Dodge said. “We talk about the setter being the quarterback of the team and she was that, but I’ve had other teams and watched other teams these past couple of years and I think she’s one of the best – if not the best – leaders on the court. She was able to score points in so many ways, and she was so knowledgeable about the sport.

“With athletics you have to be smart, especially playing some of the teams we have played. What hitters need to get the ball? What do you do when there’s not a great pass — a couple times she had to push the hitters out of the way but that’s just her and her ability to get through to them and lead them. They listened to her and did what they were told.

“It was such a joy coaching her and watching her play and grow.”

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Some athletes’ presence alone is enough to be a game-changer.

Thus was the case this year on the volleyball court for McAllen Memorial’s Eliane Silberman.

The 6-foot junior led the area with 0.8 blocks per set for the District 30-5A champion Mustangs. But, even if she wasn’t getting a hand on a kill attempt, just the fact that hitters knew she was going to be there would often make them second guess where their attack would be aimed. Her outstretched arms would intimidate opponents into attempting to go over her, or around her. Oftentimes the end result was a ball that, in return, Memorial used to set up its powerful and varied attack.

When she did chalk up that block, it sent lightning-like excitement through her and her teammates.

For her performance this season, Silberman has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Blocker of the Year.

“She’s definitely a presence to deal with and she puts up one huge block,” Memorial head coach Ashley Doffing said. “You could see in some of the opponents’ faces after they kept getting blocked, sometimes three and four times in a row. There aren’t many defensive players like Eliane and she can really rattle another team if they’re not used to being blocked.”

Silberman began playing volleyball in eighth grade and, after a season playing for the JV light team, she began looking into training, joining the Texas Fierce and club director Ryan Richardson. She admits she was nervous after seeing all the experienced girls on the court.

“I didnt really know much — just hit the ball, and I had my own technique at that time,” Silberman said. “But I started opening my eyes more and seeing and hitting the whole court more, controlling the ball more and being a lot smarter with the ball. I’m still learning and it’s a hard thing to learn and get good at, but I’m going to keep working.”

Many would say she’s already good, or better, at being an intimidating defensive stopper in the middle. Coming back for her senior year, she and Doffing are planning for a bigger role for her. It’s a challenge she’s already eagerly accepting.

“I wanted to hit more this season but I wasn’t as consistent,” she said. “I would love to be part of more plays and be more of a leader and dependable for my team and everyone. I want to be that person who can always be there.

“I want to be more consistent with my hitting and blocking. Of course, blocking comes first, hitting is always a plus though.”

Doffing echoes those sentiments and said that Silberman will be an even more dangerous weapon if her plan to run the offense through her goes as hoped.

“This will be her third year on varsity so having her return gives us that much more leadership on this team,” the second-year Memorial coach said. “This will be her third year on varsity, so having her return gives us that much more leadership on the team. That’s definitely what I’m hoping for her, to be our go-to player because having a strong middle presence both defensively and offensively — she’ll be unstoppable.

“The defense part goes so unnoticed but she’s so effective there and she has shown how much she values working at that. She is a total momentum breaker for the other team. Getting blocks is so much harder than getting kills and getting that many is just amazing. Teams had to plan around Eliane’s blocks.”

Silberman said while she believes the middle is the spot for her, she had her “eyes opened” during the times she played as an outside hitter.

“I learned a lot from playing on the outside,” Silberman said. “But I love playing the middle.”

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Amare Hernandez loves to perform. She sings, she dances and she acts.

She’s one eye-opening performer on the volleyball court, as well, where she can dominate the stage.

Because of her performance this past season, Hernandez has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Newcomer of the Year.

The 5-foot-11 outside hitter exploded on to the high school volleyball scene this year, doing things freshman generally don’t do at that age. On a team of big hitters and blockers, Hernandez stood equally tall and strong as the Mustangs won the District 30-5A title with an unblemished record and advanced to the third round of the playoffs.

For the season, one cut in half or more by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hernandez amassed 125 kills, just one behind senior Natalie Silva and three behind team leader Jocelyn Fernandez with 128. Those kills did not come easily for any Memorial attacker as the team spread the wealth better their competition in the Rio Grande Valley. Six different heavy-handed Mustangs hammered away to a tune of 64 or more kills for the season. McAllen High and Sharyland Pioneer were the closest comparison in the Valley — with three hitters at 64 or more kills.

Memorial second-year head coach Ashley Doffing said she first noticed Hernandez in the offseason, as she would attend the strength and conditioning program, once they were finally allowed to begin due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“I was pretty excited when I saw her there,” the 5-foot-10 Doffing said. “Of course when someone can look me straight in the eye, I definitely take notice.”

The Mustangs were not only rich in upperclassman talent. Four freshmen also saw plenty of playing time throughout the season. Doffing recalled how the team was separated by classes, due to COVID restrictions. The upperclassmen had finished their part of practice when young guns took to the floor.

“I told them to just watch,” Doffing said. “They (upperclassmen) were taking off their shoes and the young ones started hitting and suddenly they started putting their shoes back on to go play.”

Hernandez — who went to Cathey Middle School in McAllen, a Memorial feeder school, in eighth grade —attended STPA in seventh and eighth. She started volleyball, however, as a second-grader and is the oldest child in a competitive and athletic family.

“I love the hard work and I like getting better,” she said when asked what she enjoyed about volleyball. “I didn’t know what to expect (as a freshman) and a lot of people were telling me that a lot of freshman don’t make varsity and I didn’t want to mess up but I knew that it was OK to mess up, everyone makes mistakes. It was a lot of pressure though and I think that made me play better.”

Hernandez showed age didn’t matter, as the 15-year-old took over games at certain points, hitting the ball with such a fluid approach that when she hit the ball, the world seemed to suddenly jump to fast forward. She knocked more than one defender backwards with her thunderous attacks.

“I’ve told her, ‘You are one of the slowest quickest people I’ve ever met,’” Doffing said. “Its like she’s moving in slow motion to get to the ball then triple speed when she gets it. The ball definitely sounds different coming off her hands and I love the way she’s able to hit the off balls. It seems she works the best with those.”

Hernandez, whose father played soccer and golfs and whose mother ran track, while also playing volleyball and basketball, said that maybe the toughest thing for her as a freshman was feeling as she belonged. She had seniors and junior who were as big or bigger and with plenty of experience while also dealing with freshman breathing down her neck also pushing her.

“Yeah I had friends on the team but there was a lot of competition and when the time came, it was volleyball mode and I needed to focus 100% on that.”

“This team was very competitive amongst themselves and I told them we are very blessed that the biggest competition we have is wearing the same jersey,” Doffing said. “She cares so much about her performance and not wanting to disappoint and she’s definitely hard on herself. But that comes with time, being able to focus on the good — and that’s a life lesson that sports teaches you.”

Hernandez also runs track – the 400, 200 and, of course, the high jump.

Before deciding to take the volleyball path, she also performed in plays at middle school, danced for six years and sang.

I’m sure I’ve seen her dance during practice, and it would be exciting to see her in a play,” Doffing said. “She told me about her high jumping and I’m looking forward to see that. I can imagine it because she is so technical. You can even hear her sometimes saying, ‘step, step, jump,” when she’s getting a set.

Then everything moves at triple speed as she put everything behind her attack and, more often than not, notches another of what may be many more kills to follow.”

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McALLEN — McAllen Memorial kept running its way back into Friday night’s game against Victoria West.

Victoria West just ran a lot more, en route to a 61-35 victory over the home-standing Mustangs in the bi-district round of the Class 5A DI playoffs at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Senior Chase Patek rushed for close to 200 yards, including a 93-yard scamper to end the third quarter, and returned a kickoff 91 yards to pace an offense that exploded after coming into the contest having been on the losing end of two straight lopsided losses to Corpus Christi Veterans (57-26) and Corpus Christi Flour Bluff (59-32). Still, the team came into Friday night’s matchup with a 6-3 overall record (6-2 in District 15-5A DI), averaging 45.9 points per game.

Trailing for most of the game, except at 14-14, Mustangs running back Michael Lewis scored on a hard running 9-yard inside handoff and Memorial was within a touchdown at 34-27.

Lewis had a huge night for the Mustangs, also rushing for nearly 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On one occasion, he took an inside handoff, appeared through the line, spun 360 degrees and kept running for a 51-yard gain in the first quarter that led to him scoring Memorial’s first touchdown of the night and close to withing 14-7.

Memorial’s running attack — with Lewis, Ethan Garcia and Andrew Salinas was effective through most of the night after a slow start that saw the Mustangs fall behind 14-0. Salinas also surpassed the century mark on the ground and scored a pair of touchdowns, his first from 7 yards out during the second quarter to tie the game at 14.

Then, after Patek broke free for his 93-yarder to seemingly seal the victory for the Warriors, Salinas found the end zone on a 32-yard scamper up the middle to bring Memorial to within 54-27.

Memorial trailed 41-27 with the ball and the Mustangs were driving, highlighted by a Salinas 31-yard run. Memorial had the ball first-an-10 from the 16 before a holding call pushed them back. Then on fourth-and-1 from the 7, the Victoria defense held and the offense came out.

That’s when Patek broke loose, getting through the first line of defense and splitting the middle en route to his huge run and the 47-27 lead.

On Memorial’s next possession, Victoria West forced a fumble that was recovered by the Warriors’ Dion Green near the 30. Before his knee hit the ground on an attempted tackle, he pitched the ball back to teammate John Martinez, who took it the rest of the way, and suddenly Victoria West’s lead was up to 54-27 with 11:52 remaining.

This was the 14th time — and 10th in a row — the Mustangs have qualified for the postseason in the past 18 years under head coach Bill Littleton, who was inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year.

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CORPUS CHRISTI — Audrey Zamora nearly ran out of the large gym making a save during one rally, and Aleah Saenz was knocked backward from the impact of a ferocious kill attempt during another rally. Despite the numerous great saves, the attacks just kept coming.

The saves were enormous, plentiful and necessary Tuesday night but not enough as Austin Dripping Springs continued its relentless pounding en route to a 25-18, 27-25, 25-17 victory over McAllen High in the UIL Class 5A regional semifinals at Corpus Christi Ray High School.

The win sends the Tigers to the regional final matchup against the winner of Canyon and Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, which also played Tuesday night. It also extended Dripping Springs’ streak of sets won to 27 straight.

That streak was nearly snapped, however, in the second set as the Bulldogs overcame a 10-6 deficit with a 12-2 run that began with a Celina Saenz kill and included a pair of kills from Olivia Tite and a quick thinking push From Haidee Moore away from Tigers defenders, who were bunched up at the net, and the Bulldogs led 18-12.

Led by attacks from Karley Sledge and a block from Ryann Allison, the Tigers worked their way back and tied it at 22 on a ferocious jump serve ace from Mackenzie Plante. The teams tied again at 23, 24 and 25, before Dripping Springs pulled away and kept its set streak alive.

“I’m incredibly proud of our girls today,” McHi head coach Paula Dodge said. “That was a very tall and string team and the just kept hitting at us and we kept picking it up and keeping it off the floor. They did a tremendous job.”

Plante, the Tigers’ 5-foot-11 sophomore super outside hitter, was a huge difference in the game. During the first set, Plante set the tone with six kills, including two from the back row, and a pair of blocks.

Celina Saenz led the Bulldogs’ attack with 12 kills, while Olivia Tite added nine kills, working incredibly hard to amass those numbers with Tigers blockers getting their hands on many attacks to slow the ball down and keep it in play.

Defensively, Aleah Saenz and Zamora each tallied 17 digs, several of those coming after Dripping Springs players believed the point was almost over, only to see the ball stay up and back into play.

Setter Madison Helmcamp — one of four seniors on that team, along with Tite, Zamora and middle hitter/blocker Haidee Moore — had another impressive all around game with two kills, 22 assists, nine digs and one of three McHi aces.

During a shortened season when the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc throughout the country, Dodge said her team showed desire to finish the 2020 campaign, preserving through a two-week quarantine and playing five matches in the final six days of the regular season.

“These girls love to play volleyball and they showed it all year, whether it was a match every day or more practice, whatever it took,” said Dodge, who led the Bulldogs to their second straight Sweet 16, last year advancing in Class 6A. It was also the team’s sixth appearance since 2004.

“They played with their heart and left it all out there today. I can’t say much more about their performance,” she added. “They played great.”

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As McAllen High and Dripping Springs prepare to battle in today’s UIL Class 5A regional semifinal at Corpus Christi Ray High School, the two state-ranked teams come in, as expected, on a roll.

McHi (11-6) has won nine in a row, three in the playoffs against Brownsville Veterans, Corpus Christi Veterans and district and city rival McAllen Memorial, which the Bulldogs split with on the court during the two regular-season matches. Meanwhile, the Tigers (20-5) have claimed eight straight victories, all in 3-0 sweeps including their most recent victory — also against a district opponent in Alamo Heights. Dripping Springs lost twice to Alamo Heights during the regular season before the victory in their most recent battle earlier this week.

Following their four-set win over McAllen Memorial, the Bulldogs are tied for 10th in the most recent Texas Girls Coaches Association Poll, released Monday. Meanwhile, Dripping Springs is ranked ninth.

The Tigers are led offensively by 6-foot outside hitter Mackenzie Plante. The sophomore has registered 279 kills in 79 sets, for 3.5 kills per set, more than double any other player on the team. However, Dripping Springs also had four players with between 124 kills and 128 kills on the season in sophomores Karley Sledge and Ava Williamson, and junior Annabelle Crowder and Madi Lund, with averages of about 1.7 kills per set. Lund is the squad’s 6-foot-3 middle hitter/blocker and has a team high 38 blocks. She’s also second on the squad with a 41.2% hitting percentage.

“They are going to be big and that’s what we told the girls, to protect their teammates,” McAllen head coach Paula Dodge said. “We want to place the ball a little more and keep he ball up and keep sending it back.”

The Bulldogs are led by a trio of hitters who have shared the wealth, usually from setter Madison Helmcamp. Senior Olivia Tite leads McHi with 176 kills in 56 sets and an average of 3.1 kills per set. She is followed by junior Celina Saenz with 174 kills in 47 sets for a 3.7 average per set, and senior Haidee Moore with 132 kills and a 2.4 average in 54 sets played. Moore, the team’s middle hitter/blocker listed at 5-feet-7, leads the team in blocks with 25.

“We can’t set the ball too close to the net, that won’t help us,” Dodge said. “We need to keep moving the ball from pin to pin and hopefully catch that middle getting there late and wear them out. Hoping for some long rallies, or short ones ending by us.

“We need to be aggressive with our serves, that’s one of our weapons and hopefully we can capitalize on that.”

Dripping Springs head coach Michael Kane has coached his teams into the playoffs for 23 straight seasons, including four state championships at Austin St. Michael’s and one at Dripping Springs.

Dodge has the Bulldogs into the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year, fourth time in seven years and sixth time overall, all since 2004.

The match is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The winner advances to the regional finals against the winner of Canyon and Corpus Christi Flour Bluff with date, time and place yet to be determined.

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McALLEN — With a 19-10 lead in the fourth set of the UIL Class 5A regional quarterfinal, McAllen High’s Aleah Saenz served a ball that hit the top of the net, and for a brief moment time seemed to stop and no one moved. The ball bounced up, hit the top of the net and rolled quickly along the top before dropping on the McAllen Memorial side.

That point was one of many big scores during the biggest match of the season for both teams as McHi advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year with a 25-18, 30-28, 21-25, 25-20 victory over Memorial on Friday at the McAllen High School gymnasium.

The win also ended Memorial’s streak of going to the regional semifinals at five straight years.

McHi will face Dripping Springs its next match with the winner being one of the final eight Class 5A teams remaining in the state. Dripping Springs, like McHi, defeated a district rival in Alamo Heights. The time, day and place have yet to be determined. The match will be played Monday or Tuesday.

Celina Saenz, who has had a golden touch as of late, led the Bulldogs with 18 kills, while Olivia Tite added 11 and the Bulldogs executed a game plan that senior setter Madison Helmcamp said head coach Paula Dodge put together. The Bulldogs didn’t go power for power with the offensive artillery of the Mustangs, instead concerning themselves with placement and focusing on keeping the Memorial defense off balance.

“Since the playoffs we have been changing from more of a powerhouse team to a mental and smarter team,” said Helmcamp, who had 32 assists, 12 digs, 3 kills and three of the team’s 10 service aces. “Coach tells us if we get a point, we get a point, even if we have to tip the whole game. We’re not playing as individual players and are not worried about the stats. It shows we are coming together as a team.”

Playing perfect ball behind the service line also helped. Dodge spoke repeatedly throughout the season about too many serves being missed all year. On Friday, the Bulldogs were spot on, while McAllen Memorial collected 13 service errors.

“We needed to focus on making our serves,” Helmcamp said. “We weren’t doing it well in season and Coach had us practice a lot of serving and told us to get going from the start. It helped us to stay on top today.”

“They know they need to make their serves, they’ve known that since they started playing when they were 8 years old,” Dodge said. “They knew tonight it would be crucial and they executed.”

It was the third matchup between the crosstown rivals this season, with each team winning on their home court during District 31-5A play. But the most recent matchup during the regular season — a five-set win for Memorial — helped Dodge and the Bulldogs prepare for Friday’s match.

“We watched the tape from the last game, and knew some of the areas we were going to need to attack,” Dodge said. “Obviously they are an awesome team and a great blocking team and that gave us a lot of trouble, but we knew what they were going to possibly leave open and felt we knew what was going to happen but we needed to execute and get the ball in those spots.”

After McHi won the first set, Memorial jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the second set, led by kills from seniors Jocelyn Fernandez and Natalie Silva. The Mustangs kept the lead until late in the set. Aleah Saenz, who has been one of the team’s most prolific and effective servers during the Bulldogs’ recent nine-match win streak, served up five straight points, including one of her three aces as McHi led 24-23.

But it was far from over.

The two squads tied again at 25, 26, 27 and 28, before a Memorial attack error and ace from Haidee Moore put the Bulldogs up two sets to none.

After losing the third, McHi once again jumped out early, leading 13-5 en route to the victory. Aleah Saenz again served up five points, and McHi went on to win the set and match. It’s the sixth time under Dodge that the Bulldogs advance this far in the state tournament and fourth time in the past seven years.

“I’m just super proud of these girls and the hard work and effort they’ve put in, especially in the past five or six games we’ve played,” Dodge said. “They just keep working ‘til the end.”

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It’s only fitting that it’s McAllen High versus McAllen Memorial at 6 p.m. today.

It’s arguably the top two programs in the Valley over the past decade – or longer – and the last remaining Valley teams standing in the UIL high school volleyball playoffs.

Last year, the Bulldogs and Mustangs both punched their tickets to the Class 6A regional tournament in San Antonio, before their seasons came to a close in the regional semifinals.

This year, only one will make it as the crosstown rivals face off for a third time this season at 6 p.m. today at McAllen High School in the regional quarterfinals. The winner advances to the Sweet 16. For Memorial, it would be its sixth straight appearance in Sweet 16. For the Bulldogs, it would mark their second straight trip and fourth since 2014 to advance to the fourth round.

It’s not the first time this has happened, however.

The rivals met in this same round during the 1992 season, with the winner moving on to the Sweet 16. McHi won that match, also played in its home gym.

The teams split their two matches this year, both winning at home. McHi, however, had to forfeit four matches due to playing an ineligible player. One of those forfeits was the Bulldogs’ victory. Memorial ended the regular season, with the benefit of McHi’s forfeit, at 14-0 (now 16-0) in District 31-5A and district champions. McHi finished the regular season at 8-6 (now 10-6) and clinched the fourth seed in the district.

All four district postseason teams — McAllen High, McAllen Memorial, McAllen Rowe and Sharyland Pioneer — defeated their District 32-5A opponent in the bi-district round. Tuesday, Memorial beat Gregory-Portland in 70 minutes, while McHi defeated Corpus-Christi Veterans in an intense five-set match.

Memorial second-year head coach Ashley Doffing said the fact that two teams from McAllen are advancing may open the eyes of the rest of the state, especially considering both programs had played in 6A the previous years.

“I think it’s great moving to 5A, where Valley teams haven’t gotten this far, so there’s not as much respect from the rest of the state,” Doffing said. “The fact that both McAllen schools took down some Corpus teams shows that we are the same caliber and maybe they’ll start considering playing us in the preseason.”

The winner will play the winner of two teams, also in the same district, as Alamo Heights plays Dripping Springs. Unlike past years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament has made some changes that the next round’s time, day and site have yet to be determined.

“This season is showing all the hard work the girls do year round,” Doffing said. “I’m excited for the girls and excited just to get a season and go from one day to the next.”

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ALICE — During a timeout after the McAllen High girls volleyball team returned to the court, Celina Saenz looked at teammate Haidee Moore and expressed how tired she was.

“I told her I was ready to pass out,” Saenz said.

The sentiment was probably the same across both sides of the court as McHi defeated Corpus Christi Veterans in a thrilling and exhausting five-setter 26-24, 25-8, 25-27, 23-25, 15-19 in the Class 5A area round of the playoffs Tuesday at Alice High School.

The match was an exhibition of two teams that refused to lose, attacking, defending and several times defying what should have been a rally-ending play only to watch as bodies dove, sprawled and just dropped to defy to ball of gravity’s pull and keep the play alive.

Saenz was a perfect study case of refusing to let exhaustion set in. The senior outside hitter was more aggressive and active during the match’s final two sets, collecting 13 of her 22 kills in those sets, five coming in the final set that goes only to 15.

“I don’t like to lose to teams we can beat,” Saenz said after the match.

McHi will face McAllen Memorial in the regional quarterfinals, after playing two other times during the regular season and splitting those matches. Memorial swept Gregory-Portland on Tuesday in McAllen. The stakes this time around the Bulldogs and Mustangs, with the winner advancing to the Class 5A “Sweet 16.” Last year, both teams advanced to the Class 6A “Sweet 16.”

“Isn’t this fun?” McHi head coach Paula Dodge joked after the two-hour, 15-minute match in which the first two sets, both won by McHi, took approximately 40 minutes combined.

McHi played possibly its best set of the season during the second set, getting a team effort — and a set-stifling service clinic from sophomore Aleah Saenz.

Trailing 5-4 during the second set, Aleah Saenz served eight straight points for a 12-5 McHi advantage that included four of her game-high five aces, a block and tip for a point from Madison Helmcamp and a jump ball at the net won by Miranda Quintanilla. Corpus Christi Veterans never picked up any momentum as Ollie Tite and Haidee Moore owned the net offensively with attacks and defensively with blocks.

“In the second set, I felt like we were working together better than we have all season,” Celina Saenz said. “Everybody was in play and focused.”

After a quick second set, Corpus Christi Veterans regrouped. The combination of aggressive serves from McHi and sloppy serve receiving from the Eagles led to the two-set deficit. However, Ashlyn Hill and Sierra Jackson led an attack over the second to sets to force the deciding set.

“We made a lot of errors in those two sets but they came alive in the fifth,” Dodge said. “You get to a fifth set and a lot has to do with conditioning. Will your conditioning pay off? There were a lot of long rallies today where it could’ve gone either way but these girls stepped up.”

Following Celina Saenz with 22 kills was Tite with 14 and Moore with 13. Moore also was tough at the net with four blocks. Helmcamp had a big day all around with 49 assists, 15 digs, two kills, two blocks and an ace. Libero Audrey Zamora was stout defensively with 37 digs.

Information for the McHi-Memorial matchup was not immediately available. Though McHi and Memorial split their head-to-head matchups during the regular season, McHi ultimately forfeited that match, and three others, for using an ineligible player.

“We’re excited to play them again,” Celina Saenz said. “We’re tied, so this will be the tiebreaker.”

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