MERCEDES — A young Rio Grande City team played like four-year veterans and head coach Gus Valenciana made two critical adjustments during the second half that his team converted with perfection as the Rattlers defeated Mercedes 51-42 in the bi-district round of the Class 5A playoffs Tuesday at Mercedes High School.

Sophomore Melanie Lopez scored 13 of her team’s 26 points during the second half, many of them coming after Valencia told his team to extend the floor with still six minutes remaining and the Rattlers leading 46-40.

The move forced Mercedes to come out of their packed 2-3 zone and that’s when Lopez, who scored just two points during the first half, went to work. She drove past her defender on three consecutive setups as Rio Grande City extended its lead to as many as 11.

“Melanie came alive today in the second half,” Valenciana said. “She was huge in the second half and made some great decisions and attacked the basket. She got blocked a couple of times but he also slice in and made a few huge layup.”

Mercedes’ all-everything player, Mika Vento, scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in what ended up being her final high school basketball game after a standout career. The four-sport athlete was an all-district selection in volleyball, softball and basketball, and a district champion in track. Sellie Gonzales, another senior and scorer for the Tigers, scored 11 points, nine coming during the first half.

Rio Grande City allowed just 14 points in the second half, five in the fourth quarter. The Rattlers trailed 28-25 at the half.

“I felt we were giving them easy stuff in the first half,” Valenciana said. “We knew some of their plays and in that first half we weren’t where we were supposed to be at times and either reached in or didn’t box out. But the girls played great in the second and we tightened up defensively. They played great in the second half.”

When the teams came out in the second half, that’s when Valenciana made his first adjustment setting up offensively using a high-low post Emily Lopez and Alyssa Reyna scored six quick points off that setup and got some breathing room. After three quarters, they turned that three-point deficit into a three point lead at 43-40.

The ball would go to the top of the lane where Vento would be pulled out to defend. Then the ball would quickly go to another of Rio Grande City’s post players for an easy basket.

“Our goal was to stay packed in the 2-3 and then they went to that,” Mercedes head coach Santiago Rivas said. “Mike would come out and we knew we were undersized and they got a few easy baskets off that then with the lead they were able to pull us out of that zone. We knew Rio was good. Their big girls are good and they like to run an up-tempo and we were trying to keep the tempo down and pack it in.”

Rio Grande City, second to Sharyland Pioneer in District 31-5A with an 11-3 district record, improved to 23-8. Following Melanie Lopez’s 15 points was Emily Lopez’s 14 and Reyna’s 12.

RGC will play the winner of Corpus Christi Carroll and Laredo Cigarroa.

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McAllen High goalkeeper Lexi Gonzalez on Monday was named to the topdrawersoccer.com Winter 2020 High School Girls All-American Watch List.

The accolade ends up being part of a busy and celebratory week for the senior two-sport star. Last week, Gonzalez committed verbally to the University of Arkansas soccer team to continue her collegiate athletic and educational career. She is the third Division I soccer player commit on the Bulldogs squad, along with Ava Alaniz (University of Houston) and Westyn Henderson (Texas A&M).

Topdrawersoccer.com also has the Bulldogs ranked No. 11 in the nation, up one spot from the prior week.

“Lexi is fantastic,” McHi girls soccer head coach Patrick Arney said. “Talk about a kid who deserves it. She works so hard and is so talented. She’s really taking command as a senior this season.”

The 9-1 Bulldogs have given up just three goals this season, two while Gonzalez has been in goal. The other came in a 1-0 loss to Katy Tompkins, the state’s top-ranked girls soccer team according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association most recent poll released Monday, with Gonzalez on the sideline nursing a foot injury.

“Everyone on the team is so thrilled with the season so far,” Arney said. “Who would think that a girls team in South Texas would have that high of a national ranking? We looked good in a tournament in Houston where we lost in the championship and people are taking notice. It’s a confidence booster.”

Arney and the Bulldogs already hit a major milestone earlier this season, winning their 500th match as a program and coach.

Gonzalez, coming off a 46-3 season and The Monitor’s All-Area Player of the Year honors for the McHi volleyball team, will be part of a Razorbacks team that accumulated a 17-4-2 record, winning the SEC West before falling in the SEC Championship 1-0 to the University of South Carolina. During the season, Arkansas claimed its first defeat of a No. 1 team in school history, defeating North Carolina 2-0. It was also the first time an SEC team had beaten North Carolina by two or more goals.

The Razorbacks are ranked preseason anywhere between No. 8 and No. 10 going into the 2020 season, which begins in the fall.

Nilton Dos Santos struggled to find which event he would be best suited for.

“I tried a bunch of them to see which one I struggled the least with and chose that (the butterfly),” the McAllen High junior swimmer said. “It took like six months and it was frustrating. I was just learning how to swim competitively.”

Then, in his first competition where he would swim in the 100 fly, “I kind of drowned. I stopped in the middle of the pool,” he said. “I didn’t want to swim anymore.”

His coach at the time had other ideas.

“He made me do it again. I did it six meets in a row and stayed with it,” Dos Santos said.

Dos Santos has the best 100 fly time in the Rio Grande Valley and will look to improve upon it as swimmers from all three McAllen ISD schools will host the 2020 New Year’s Classic Friday and Saturday at the McAllen Rowe natatorium. Diving will be held beginning at 10 a.m. today and swimming will start at 9 a.m. Saturday. Twelve to 14 teams are expected to compete as one of the final tune ups before district meets begin Jan. 24-25.

“He kept going after than and he just blossomed,” Juan Gutierrez, the second-year McHi head coach, said. “We are trying to get him to go all out all the time and he swears he has more left in his tank. We’re excited for that.”

Dos Santos’ time of 52.61 seconds is a little more than 1.5 seconds faster than Sharyland Pioneer’s Trevor Heath, arguably the Valley’s top swimmer. Heath is ranked first in seven different events and second in two events, according to the Rio Grande Valley Swimming Coaching Association’s top 16 individual times per event, dated Dec. 19.

Dos Santos is among the fastest swimmers in several events. He’s sixth in the 50 freestyle, third in the 100 freestyle, second in the 200 free, third in the 500 free, fifth in the 50 back, 13th in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 individual medley.

“He wants to win and he will let people know,” Gutierrez said. “He and Jace (Lyon) will put their goggles on and go to work. There’s never any complaining, they just go do their workout and push themselves and each other.”

Gutierrez said Lyon, the senior team captain, is his best breaststroker and is fourth in the Valley with a time of 1:04.62. Lyon is just a half-second behind McAllen Memorial’s Dayan Rodriguez Vallejo.

Lyon said his interest in swimming started years ago. His dream was to be a Navy Seal.

“I just thought it was cool,” said Lyon, who has been to state three times, the first time for the 200 medley relay and the past two for the 100 breast. “I knew swimming would ship you into shape and make you mentally tough. I liked the Navy and thought if I go in, I may as well be one of the best.”

While the Navy route may not still be his path, he has shown that he’s among the best when it comes to the breast stroke, an event he was randomly placed in — and flourished.

“My freshman year it was a little hard at first; I was always the shortest one and have been. So it was hard for me to be faster in the other strokes. I guess it’s because I have strong legs and that stroke takes strong legs,” Lyon said. “My first coach would put us in random events and he put me in the breast stroke, then told me, “you’re a breaststroker.”

The random events plan is something Gutierrez said he may be doing to see who else he could sneak into a position to reach districts, and beyond. Many teams start tapering, or slowing down, at this time to recuperate for districts, regionals and state.

“This is when I’m sore and tired and by the time districts come, right before regionals, everything slows down so we’re not sore or tired. Then, usually at district and after, we’ll start dropping times,” Lyon said, adding that one of his goals is to break the regional record of 57.4 second that he says has been in the books “for at least 30 years by someone from Brownsville.” Lyon’s best time is 59.4 and, as expected, came last year in the regional meet in Brownsville.

“Pretty much with these two we’re not training for district, but for regional and state,” Gutierrez said. “We start the taper to get their bodies ready to go faster so they can be their fastest at regional and state. Our team goals are to win districts, both for the boys and girls. We’re up to it.”

McAllen High’s Lexi Gonzalez looked over to the bench, her eyes wide and a painful expression started developing over her face.

Slowly, she reached down below her knee, and then her hand continued to slide to her ankle. Then, she collapsed to the floor.

“I was in so much pain,” she said “At first I thought I would just keep on playing, but it hurt so bad.”

It was during the second set of her team’s UIL Class 6A area round match against Harlingen South. The Hawks immediately took advantage and seized the lead in the second set while Gonzalez was in the training room with “Doc.”

The idea that the play could have been her final one as a Bulldog volleyball player never crossed her mind.

“Oh no, I knew I was going back,” she said. “The first thing I told Doc was, ‘I have to play, I have to play — do whatever, I have to go back in.”

Before that set was over, not only did she come back in, but she led the Bulldogs to a four-set win and to the third round of the playoffs.

Gonzalez’s year statistically was phenomenal and, because of her play leading McHi to a 46-3 record, she has earned The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year award.

“I knew I was going back in — if he told me not to, I still would go back in. Thanks to Doc, he’s been so helpful to me for four years there. He’s just awesome.”

Gonzalez was the only athlete in the Rio Grande Valley to be named to a Texas Girls Coaches Association All–State team, garnering the accolade for Class 6A. She ended her high school career with a school-record 1,670 kills while setting another program record with 662 kills in a single season. She also registered 43 aces, 38 blocks, 369 digs and 275 serve receptions, as McHi won the District 30-6A title and advanced to the Class 6A “Sweet 16.”

“I wanted this year to be the best year I had and this team made my year so easy,” said Gonzalez, also named a Class 6A All-States for girls soccer. “Everyone this year wanted to play and everyone wanted to win. We would get so pumped up to play and that had a lot to do with our success. We were like family.”

The Bulldogs advanced to the Region IV quarterfinals against nemesis Laredo United at Zapata High School. The Longhorns had sent the Bulldogs packing the year before in the same round, and Gonzalez and her teammates wanted to avenge that loss.

Then they lost the first set, and trailed in the second. Another short night coming up.

“We were a little shaky at first,” Gonzalez understated. “Then something clicked. We learned our lesson after the first set and we kept getting knocked down but kept getting back up. Then after every point we would get so excited and the energy level kept getting higher and higher.”

Gonzalez said she started going to volleyball camps when she was in elementary school and immediately began looking up to McHi head coach Paula Dodge. McHi volleyball, playing for Dodge, became her goal. Today, she still holds her varsity volleyball coach in the highest regard, maybe even moreso after four years under her tutelage.

“I would always be the first one to show up — yeah I was one of those,” Gonzalez said. “Playing for Coach Dodge, though, is so amazing and she’s so inspirational. She has inspired me so many times where I’ve learned a lot and grown as a person and a player.

“We will pray before games, she gives us inspirational quotes for every game and tells us always all we can do is play the best you can. She talks about grit a lot and when you’re done with a game if you played the best that you could, that’s all that matters.”

Many boys and girls play on sports teams, others become athletes. Fewer are born athletes. Gonzalez is in that elite mix. She lives for that competition, for the adrenaline rush.

“I can’t see myself without playing a sport,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve been sports oriented all my life. It’s my dream to one day play professionally.

When Gonzalez burst through the doors in the area round against Harlingen South, returning to the court after she went down with the ankle injury, a boisterous roar greeted her from the McHi fans, the only sound more deafening being the silence of the South home crowd.

“That was such an awesome feeling,” she said. “I needed to and wanted to be there to play, be there for my coaches and my team. There was no way I was going to let that be our last game.

“I’m so thankful for our trainers and coaching staff and my family for always giving me so many opportunities to prove myself. I hope that I’ve been a role model for others and that everyone does great next year. I hope I inspired some people the way so many others have inspired me.”

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Natalie Reyes’ first love as a child was basketball.

Then, volleyball fell in love with Reyes. Now, the feeling is mutual.

While power makes the sport what it is, touch and finesse also play a huge role. Reyes, a sophomore setter for Sharyland Pioneer, showed both qualities all season, helping lead the Diamondbacks to a 33-11 mark. Because of her play, she has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Setter of the Year.

Growing up, Reyes said she would play with some of the older girls at school. She then caught the volleyball bug and decided that she wanted to pursue the setter’s route.

“It was a position that was different from everybody else and I wanted to try it out,” Reyes said. “After that I just really enjoyed it. I got to touch the ball a lot and there are a lot of interesting things you can do with the ball in that position. I could do things for other people, teammates. Plus I was in control.”

Her numbers showed she touched the ball a lot. She ended the season with 1,147 assists (10.2 per set) plus tallied 307 digs, 78 kills and 78 aces.

Reyes also plays basketball for Pioneer and throws for the track team. For a short span she also took up golf, almost knocking down a hole-in-one at Monte Cristo.

“Yeah it didn’t go in, so I got a two,” she said. “Golf is just not for me.”

Volleyball is though and she said that she thought she was a different player this year on the volleyball court with more court awareness and more knowledge of the strategies. She credited her head coach, Laura Cavazos, for “poking at her” and challenging her regularly.

“I think I’ve grown as an athlete and my reacting to different scenarios has changed,” she said. “The offense has become a little quicker and I feel I know a little more than last year. Coach wanted more from me and told me I had to step up. I benefited from that.”

Cavazos had a star setter before Reyes in Audrey Smith, who now plays at Texas Tech. Reyes said she remembers as a fourth grader watching Smith play at Pioneer and being awestruck with the things Smith would do.

“I would be like ‘Oh, mom, did you see that?’” Reyes said. “I was so excited to go to all of her games, just in awe of her. She (Audrey) has taken me under her wing and she continues to push me.”

Reyes said one time Cavazos pushed her to the point of near tears, but she didn’t break and knew it was to make her better.

“Natalie contributes to our team by not only running our offense, but setting the examples in practice with her work ethic and dedication,” Cavazos said. “She’s such a great asset to our team and I’m excited to see her grow.”

Cavazos said that Reyes’ versatility may be her biggest asset. While she can’t think of anyone she would rather have touch every second ball all season long, she also admits that she could position her as a hitter as well even though “everyone would think I’m crazy,” she said.

“With every year she steps in to where we need her, from offense to defense — everywhere,” Cavazos said. “With her versatility, we can make a lot of adjustments if we need to depending on who we are playing.”

She even received high praise at one point from the season from Mission Veterans head coach Diana Lerma, whose team has gone unbeaten for five straight seasons in district play, saying that Reyes “made it difficult on us to figure out where she was going to put the ball.”

“It shows she’s doing a good job and running a good offense,” Cavazos said. “We are always pushing to run a faster offense and once the ball is in her hands, what she does with it and the way she moves it, quick on the release, it keeps the middle blockers and the hitters guessing where it’s going to go. That makes it tough on the defense.”

Of course, developing a quicker offense is at the top of the list for Reyes next season. She also said she wants to work on her blocking “because I’m vertically challenged.”

Above all else there’s the team goal.

“I want to strive for that district championship next year,” she said.

Bad day, great year

Edinburg High’s Hernandez garners top newcomer award

BY HENRY MILLER

STAFF WRITER

Natalie Hernandez was having a bad day. It started earlier in the day and continued through volleyball practice for Edinburg High.

Then, it got worse.

“Sometimes middles can get lazy and one time Natalie didn’t get to where she needed to be on a block and she got punished,” Edinburg High head coach Deanna Dominguez said. “She never missed an opportunity after that and she got there every single time.”

It was that type of response to improve, combined with skills and performance, that helped Hernandez earn The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Newcomer of the Year.

The freshman, once moved from outside hitter to middle blocker, seemed to be a natural in the middle for the Bobcats, who posted with a 9-3 record in District 31-6A. She finished the season with 40 aces, 191 kills, 56 blocks and 68 digs.

“I was having a bad day and it wasn’t getting any better at practice,” Hernandez said. “I wasn’t getting to my spot on time and she had already warned me about blocking. Then she got after me, pulled me to the side and said a few things…

“I learned that no matter the day I was having, I had to give it my all and do my best because the rest of my team was counting on me.”

It was a valuable lesson learned by Hernandez, just a year removed from Barrientes Middle School and making the jump to varsity as a freshman. That climb — skipping the freshman and JV teams — wore on her enough.

“At first it was (stressful),” she said about playing at the top high school level. “I didn’t know any of the girls but they were really welcoming to me and it ended up being OK.”

With a big move like that, Dominguez said it could become easy for one to rest on their laurels. She doesn’t see that happening with Hernandez and said the two discussed that, among other issues.

“There are freshmen heroes who become senior zeroes,” Dominguez said. “We chatted and bout never being satisfied, about staying hungry and wanting to be better. I don’t see that as being an issue with Natalie; we have some big goals set in the future for her and the team.”

Hernandez is a very quiet athlete whose aggressive attacks and wasp-like blocks speak for her. She said that Dominguez would have team and individual goals for each game. To make sure she stayed aggressive, she had special “goals” for Hernandez.

“She would always tell me to be aggressive as I could and to hit someone in the face so I would stay aggressive,” Hernandez said. “I enjoyed that.”

“When it happened she would just look over to me and nod, with a sly smile on her face,” Dominguez said. “She is an aggressive hitter and she has grown in the sense where she can adjust to any type of set. Not all sets are going to come your way perfectly. To be a kill leader, you have to attack as needed.”

Also making the jump to varsity was another Barrientes volleyball player, Ashley Garcia. Hernandez said they quickly became friends and now “spend about every second with each other.”

Hernandez was also named the District 31-6A Newcomer of the Year. Perhaps one of her biggest performances came in a five-set win over Edinburg Economedes where the budding freshman collected a career-high 34 kills. It was the first time through the district schedule and it put the remainder of the district on alert: Natalie Hernandez was going to be a force.

“In volleyball, you have to produce based on your assignment and if you don’t, you get punished for it. It’s not like if you miss a shot in basketball the other team automatically gets two points,” Dominguez said. “So she really stepped it up for us. She was carrying us with attacks and blocks and bore the brunt of it all.

“This honor is huge for her and we are already expecting so much from her. She’s gonna have to bring it even more. With every honor comes more responsibility.”

Joseph Villanueva remembers seeing Nayeli Hernandez in seventh grade.

“She was always athletic and fast and I told her then I was a wrestling coach and I thought she should join. I never really thought about it after but you could see she was just a natural athlete,” Villanueva said.

Then, while coaching at the high school level for the PSJA High Bears, a then-freshman Hernandez approached Villanueva.

“Hey, Coach, you still want me to join?” Villanueva recalls.

Four years later, the senior, who has had to work her way up the ranks after a rough start, is eyeing a return to the UIL state wrestling tournament.

Nayeli will be one of six ranked PSJA High Bears girls wrestlers (along with the rest of her team) and boys wrestlers, with four ranked wrestlers, to compete in their first local wrestling tournament beginning today at the Rattler Invitational at Sharyland High School.

Nineteen teams from across the Valley are listed in competing at the two-day event that begins at approximately 11 a.m. today with the finals scheduled for Saturday.

Hernandez is currently ranked No. 6 at the 119 weight class, according to wrestlingtexas.com. She is 10-0 on the season after tournaments in Corpus Christi and San Antonio. The Bears’ girls team is also tied for No. 9 in the state in dual meets.

The senior didn’t start her career the same way.

“I don’t think she won a match her first year — maybe she won one or two other than forfeits, but she didn’t quit,” said Villanueva, in his fourth year at the helm of the Bears.

Instead, Hernandez showed up to the Valley Wrestling Club, a club wrestling program, and worked all year. Her sophomore year she progressed to sixth at regionals, then she blossomed last year, earning a district championship and a regional title. She stood on the podium at the state meet with a sixth-place finish.

“The juniors and seniors that were here then told her not to worry about her freshman year; everyone goes through that. She believed in what they told her. She just kept training all summer, all the time,” Villanueva said. “We knew that if she wrestled the way we believed she could that she could accomplish a lot. Now she’s a living testament to the young ones coming up.”

It was during a tournament in Austin that a breakthrough came — in a loss. Hernandez advanced to the championship match, then got caught in a basic move called “a head and arm,” where she was hip tossed and eventually lost the match.

“She hates that move now and the whole team works hard on defending it,” Villanueva said. “They’ve worked on being able to wrestle through it and not get lazy. That’s what happens: you need to go on the offense. That loss really motivated her and pushed her to do better.

“We have high expectations and she has drive. She wants to be in the state finals.”

Other PSJA girls ranked include Karen Marroquin (No. 14, 102 pounds), Teresa Solis (No. 4, 119), Priscilla Luivano (No. 20, 128), Nancy Saldana (No. 6, 148) and Jessica Villanueva (No. 20, 215). Solis will be making her season debut after recovering from leg surgery.

“We won district last year and finished second in the region,” Villanueva said. “So the team goal for the girls is not district. The true goal is to win a regional title as a team; that’s what the girls have set.”

PSJA boys ranked include Max Barrera (No. 12, 120), Daniel Lopez (No. 11, 126), Jesus Ceja (No. 20, 160) and Joshua Sanchez (No. 11, 285).

Edcouch-Elsa brings the highest-ranked boys team into the event. The Yellow Jackets are listed at No. 15 in Class 5A. PSJA Memorial senior Abel Alvarado is the highest-ranked individual in the tournament, listed at No. 2 in the state at the 113-pound weight category.

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SAN ANTONIO — During a season in which McAllen Memorial’s middles were a driving force as the Mustangs made a deep playoff run, it was the bigs for San Antonio Clark that ended Memorial’s season in dominant fashion.

Elise McGhee, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter, and 6-foot hitter Grace Gibson combined for 28 kills and kept Memorial’s defense busy en route to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-14 sweep in the Class 6A regional semifinals Friday at the Alamo Convocation Center.

The loss ends Memorial’s season with a 36-10 record.

The pressure applied by Clark’s monstrous middles kept Memorial from being able to set up multiple attacks in response, sending over free balls and letting the Cougars attack again.

Memorial’s defense kept the Mustangs in the game, as did hitters Jocelyn Fernandez and Natalie Silva. Fernandez led the team with nine kills while Silva had six kills.

“Yeah, they were big and they hit the ball hard,” Memorial first-year head coach Ashley Doffing said. “But we’ll be back. It definitely says something that two McAllen teams are representing all of the Valley. I couldn’t be any more proud of our girls and the way the defense stepped up and played.”

The first set was a prime example of things to come. Memorial went on a short run like it did down 15-9, behind kills from Silva and Sydney Marburger, only to watch it cut short either by McGhee or Gibson. During the second set, Clark jumped out to a 17-6 lead, several points coming off Memorial attack errors as they looked for gaps in the Cougars defense or hit the attack a bit too hard, resulting in a ball going out.

“This just puts the goal a little higher for next year,” said Doffing, whose team reached the regional semifinals for the second straight year. “It’s something McAllen can handle. The girls need to continue to believe in the process. We’ll be back.”

UPDATE: Clark lost San Antonio Clemens, which defeated McAllen High on Friday, in three sets on Saturday in the Regional Final.

SAN ANTONIO — With Lexi Gonzalez in the back row, San Antonio Clemens went on runs of 8-0 in each of the first two sets of the Region IV-6A semifinals Friday as McAllen High couldn’t seem to muster much of an offensive attack.

During the third set, however, that changed as the Bulldogs found ways to play the Buffaloes point for point.

It wasn’t enough, however, as Clemens, led by Shelby O’Neal’s overpowering attacks, claimed a 25-16, 25-18, 27-25 victory to advance to today’s regional semifinal against San Antonio Clark, which beat McAllen Memorial earlier in the day.

O’Neal, a 6-foot outside hitter, was too powerful and accurate for the Bulldogs’ defense and when they did challenge her at the net, she either found a seam, or blasted a block off the defenders’ hands and the ball flew out of bounds.

O’Neal finished the night with 22 kills, while teammates Ashley Breu and Canada Buchanan added 13 and 12 kills, respectively.

“They just have some powerful hitters,” McHi head coach Paula Dodge said. “W tried to match Lexi up against their best hitter but they had several girls who could attack.”

McHi kept up with Clemens in the third set, trying to salvage it and get their team on track. Gonzalez, a senior who set the all-time kills record for McHi earlier in the season, finished the night with 20 kills, many coming during the third set and from the back row as the team set up their leader as often as possible.

“I guess we were nervous in the beginning,” Gonzalez said. “But we got more intense in the last set and tried to get to another set. But they are a great team and I hope they go very far.” (UPDATE: Clemens defeated Clark on Saturday in three sets)

Sophomore Celina Saenz was held in check for the most part through the first two sets before the Bulldogs got into a groove and found ways to attack more than earlier in the match. The result was five third-set kills for Saenz in the set, giving her nine for the match.

McHi trailed in the third set 23-21 when Haidee Moore delivered a kill and Clemens followed with a net violation to tie the set at 23. McHi fought off a match point at 24-23 on an attack error and had set point after a back row kill from Gonzalez. Breu, however, responded with a kill as did Buchanan and Clemens scored on their second match point attempt to claim victory.

“The girls didn’t give up and kept fighting,” said Dodge, whose team finished 46-3 on the season and advanced with a thrilling four-set win over Laredo United in the regional quarterfinals and was ranked as high as third in the state according to the Texas Girls Coaches Association. “That’s the way they play, they just keep pushing.

“Still, this was a wonderful season.”

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McAllen Memorial and McAllen High’s wins Tuesday in the Class 6A regional quarterfinals showed one thing is for certain: opposing hitters won’t have a cakewalk of blasting kills at the defense without a battle up front.

The Mustangs defeated Laredo Alexander in five sets, while the Bulldogs lost the first set and won the next three to stop Laredo United. Memorial plays at 5 p.m. today, and the Bulldogs follow at 7 p.m. in the Class 6A regional semifinals — the Sweet 16 — at the Alamo Convocation Center. The winner of each match will play one another at 11:30 a.m. Saturday for a chance to advance to the Final Four.

What pushed both teams into today’s fourth round of the playoffs, among other things, were dominant performances at the net, not just offensively by attacking, but defensively as well. McHi’s Ada Sadlier and Lexi Gonzalez had eight and five total blocks (solo blocks and block assists), respectively, while Haidee Moore, Alexa Ramirez, Celina Saenz and Madison Helmcamp combined for 11 block assists.

That wall was partly responsible for quieting Laredo United’s 6-foot-2, Division I outside hitter Lauren Arzuago, who came into the match averaging 4.4 kills per set but was held to just 3.7 kills per set, while committing five errors. The blocks were so effective that the Longhorns began tipping the ball more often than attacking.

“The blockers were finding the hitters and they put the ball back on some of them and it made the hitters try to make adjustments,” McHi head coach Paula Dodge said. “I can’t say enough about their play. United was looking for an area to take advantage and place the ball and it really frustrated their hitters when they got blocked a couple times.

During Memorial’s match against Laredo Alexander — which beat both McHi and Memorial during the regular season — there was one rally where Alexander loaded up and attacked three straight times, only to have each ball come rebounding back off the Mustangs’ big blockers.

“When something like that happens, not only does it play in the opposing team’s heads, but it gives our girls the confidence to go even stronger,” Memorial first-year head coach Ashley Doffing said. “I told them this before, they love being the underdog; they didn’t want that taste of defeat in their mouths again.

Senior Demy Banks led the front-line defense with four solo block and four solo assists. She also added 12 kills as the Mustangs’ middles — Banks, Eliane Silberman and Jocelyn Fernandez — won the crucial net battle.

“I’m like over the moon with their performance,” Doffing said. “Then, offensively, we have been able to get the ball quickly to our setters and set up for a quick (attack) and when we execute properly the ball is going to go down and it’s going down hard.”

Memorial (36-10) will play San Antonio Clark (42-7) in the first matchup. Clark is led offensively by 6-foot-2 right-side hitter/middle blocker Elisa Mcghee. The junior has 508 kills on the year, according to maxpreps.com, and 3.7 kills per set. She is followed by Grace Gibson, a 5-10 right side hitter/middle blocker who had 376 kills this season.

Banks, Fernandez and Natalie Banks all have more than 250 kills to pace the Mustangs’ well-balanced attack, while setter/hitter Sydney Marburger has 201 kills to go along with a team-high 75 service aces, 660 sets and is second on the team behind libero Cori Talamantez with 289 digs.

“Sydney is a setter and is getting touches and has had some solo blocks,” Doffing said. “To have a setter that is effective in the front row as a hitter is awesome. She’s a silent leader who leads by example and the team has followed in that leadership.”

McHi (46-2) will play Clemens (42-4) in the second matchup. Clemens is paced by 6-foot-1 outside hitter and defensive specialist Shelby O’Neal, who has racked up 519 kills to go with 399 digs and 68 aces.

The Bulldogs are led offensively by Lexi Gonzalez, a 6-0 senior, with 617 kills. She is followed by sophomore Celina Saenz with 369 kills. Several of Saenz kills came during a run midway through the second set against United after McHi lost the first set and were down 13-6 in the second.

“The true competitor came out in Celina when we were down and she did not want to lose,” Dodge said. “It’s what every coach wants to see in an athlete that, ‘I need to get my team going,’ and she brought that attitude into the game. I just loved seeing that and if she continues to improve like she has this year, what a leader she is going to be on all the athletic teams she’s on — it’s very impressive.”

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