When UTRGV volleyball head coach Todd Lowery hired Vini Baigan as an assistant coach in 2015, Baigan had concerns about two things.

“During my interview, I told him there were two things I wasn’tcomfortable with,” Baigan said. “They were planning practices and if I don’t go home to Brazil twice a year, I think I will freak out because I’m very attached to my family.

“He was fine with that.”

During Baigan’s second day on the job, Lowery told him at 3 p.m., “I need you to plan practice for tonight’s summer camp.”

“I was like, ‘I just told you,’” said Baigan, who was named associate head coach in May. “But I’m very thankful, because he made me come out of my shell.

“Todd is a very nice person and everybody knows that so I think the way we push each other is good. I’m the negative side, he’s the positive side. We keep the balance.”

Lowery began his collegiate coaching career in 2002 and has done nothing but win, turning everything he touches into gold. In his first year as a head volleyball coach in 2002, at National American University, Lowery amassed a 41-0 record and went on to win the first of two NAIA national championships while there.

He won two more titles at the University of Texas at Brownsville/TexasSouthmost College.

He’s the winningest coach at both of those schools and, recently, he completed a trifecta, becoming the winningest volleyball coach as well at UTRGV.

Maybe even more impressive is the fact that in his 20-plus year career, he has never been an assistant coach

Lowery became the winningest head coach in UTRGV program history Sept.9 when the Vaqueros beat the North Dakota State Bison 25-22, 25-22,25-19. The team has won four straight since then, putting them on a 10-match win streak and with a 10-1 record.

Now with 115 wins, Lowery is ahead of David Thorn (1998-2006) for the top spot. The win over NDSU was also Lowery’s 27th neutral site victory, tying him with Thorn for the program record. Lowery is also the program holder in home wins (52) and 11 other categories sincebeing named head coach Jan. 9, 2015.

Lowery had guided the program to its only two NCAA Division I postseason appearances, including the 2016 NCAA Tournament and the 2021 NIVC, while leading his team to the 2018 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship and 2016 WAC Tournament Championship.

Lowery’s earliest success as a coach – his first season, rather, his first game – is a story unlike any, it’s fascinating and quite possibly made for TV. National American University, in Rapid City,South Dakota, had decided to rid itself of all sports – except for volleyball and rodeo. Their volleyball head coach left and only four players were on the roster when Lowery accepted the job.

His interview was in June, practice began in July. No pressure, right?

“I knew one of the players, she was from Brazil and she said, ‘I know some players we can bring in,’” Lowery said. “The administration said OK if that’s what I wanted.

“So we brought in these four freshmen and they showed up a couple of days before the first match. We played the entire season with eight kids, no liberos and the middles were playing six rotations. It was just a special group. They took us to the national title and I mean ‘they’ took us.”

He has brought success with him everywhere since Day 1.

“Todd is great to work with. The passion he has for young people and student athletes is second to one. Look at what he’s done even beforehere with the UTB program. He’s a championship caliber coach,” UTRGV Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said. “He also has been an athletic director for a couple years at UTB so he understands the big picture.

“He’s a team player and knows all boats rise with the high tide. In my mind, I’ll consider him the dean of coaches. He understands the Valley, his fingerprints are all over the region, what he means to the sport, what his family means to the sport and he certainly has great ties and connections.

While most fans may connect success to only wins, losses or Xs and Os, there’s much more than that if a coach is going to find real long-term success, from being a strategist to a sales-pitch artist/recruiter, to a sounding board for players, coaches and more and to be a developer of athletes, and young people in general. So far, Lowery’s report card in those areas is nothing but straight As.

UTRGV’s biggest name and hitter, Sarah Cruz, credits Lowery for helping her make it to what is now her final season. The 6-foot-2 graduate student from the Czech Republic leads UTRGV in kills, was named the WAC player of the Week twice already this season and is a probable candidate for WAC Player of the Year.

Her UTRGV career, however, didn’t necessarily start on that golden path.

“We started very bad in the beginning because I don’t think we had a really good relationship because of the things I was doing,” Cruzsaid. “I had a long-distance boyfriend and wasn’t really paying attention at practice.

“I think he was really pissed about that and then it was my second year I started to play but I think I was on the (bad) list. He has an A list and that other list. I was definitely on the other list. We have a good relationship now, though, because I’m able to be coached and I wasn’t able to be coached – I was ttoo stuck on my ex and didn’t really have it as a priority.”

Getting players to develop, many times comes down to the mental aspect of the game. UTRGV’s roster is loaded with players from Brazil, Greece, Romania and elsewhere around the world. Making an adjustment to leave home and end up thousands of miles away can work on every aspect of a person’s being – heart, mind and soul.

“When she first came, she was very attached to her boyfriend and just was distracted. Over the years as we got her focused in more she learned what it means to be part of a team and having support from her teammates. That has taken pressure off of her. She felt a ton of pressure to perform at a super high level – that it was the only way people were going to like her.”

Lowery recognized Cruz was tying her self worth to Sarah the volleyball player and not Sarah the person.

“Before, if she didn’t perform or had a bad day she felt like nobody liked her. That wasn’t the case,” Lowery said.

“It all goes back to that first team. I was still learning the game atthat point in my career but the one thing throughout my career I’vebeen successful at is developing the mental side of the game. To get kids to play together, to buy into a program and a process. That’s all those conversations with Sarah. Everybody in the country knew she was a great volleyball player, but could we fix those other things. Andall you’ve seen is her getting better and better and better.”

Meanwhile the wins keep coming for Lowery, once appropriately referred to as The Coach with the Midas Touch, turning everything — from a team with four players two days before a season starts to winning a national championship, to a coach who doesn’t feel comfortable planning practices to being the right-hand man, to a player going to thenot-so-nice list to a superstar — into gold.

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EDINBURG — UTRGV has a roster stacked with big hitters.

It’s sophomore setter Luanna Emiliano’s job to identify who’s hot and get the ball to them.

Emiliano did exactly that late in the third set and Luisa Dos Santos and Claudia Lupescu delivered, and the Vaqueros won their eighth straight match 25-17, 25-23, 25-22 over Montana on Friday night during the first day of the UTRGV Tournament at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

“Everybody has a little different game plan for us, and they are going to have to pick and choose their poison,” UTRGV head coach Todd Lowery said. “If we pass it well we can figure out those things a little faster. Luanna does such an incredible job of controlling our offense. We have an impressive crop of hitters but to have someone to orchestrate it and figure it out, her ability then to get the ball to the person no matter what the pass looks like or the dig looks like, it’s impressive.”

The win spoiled the homecoming of Jackie Howell, the former Mission Veterans standout player, who had dozens of loud and supportive family and fans in attendance to watch her and the Griz play. Howell finished the night with a pair of kills, one assist and nine digs.

Meanwhile, a slide play from Emiliano to Santos turned momentum during a third set in which Montana grabbed a 10-6 lead and held it until UTRGV climbed back to tie it at 20, 21 and 22. The slide, however, was the turning point.

“I needed to step up and help my teammates right now, because we are struggling a little bit from the beginning of the third set,” Santos said. “So I talked to Luanna, and we have a good connection and have been working together and knew it was going to work out.

“(After that) I was waiting for the balls. I was feeling excited now that the ball was coming to me.”

Sarah Cruz led the Vaqueros with 13 kills and Claudia Lupescu added 12. Emiliano added 34 assists.

“When I am in the game we don’t push a lot of slides, but me and Luanna work on that a lot,” said Santos, a 6-foot junior from Brazil. “But we saw their blockers would stay in the front with me or Sarah, and Luanna was, like, ‘Push the slide right now, I think it’s gonna work.’ That worked.”

The Vaqueros rolled through the first set before Montana settled down to grid out the next two sets.

“I feel we let off on the service pressure in Sets 2 and 3, and we didn’t pass or play with the intensity level that we are capable of,” Lowery said. “It’s still nice to get a 3-0 win, and get out of here and regroup and do it again (this) morning.”

UTRGV’s 8-1 record is the best start in program history since joining NCAA Division I in 1985. UTRGV continues play in its home tournament at 11 a.m. today against Prairie View A&M before a second match against Montana at 2:30 p.m.

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EDINBURG — Jackie Howell is coming home, and she’s bringing the rest of her Montana Grizzlies volleyball team with her.

The former Mission Veterans volleyball star and the Grizzlies are part of the UTRGV Volleyball Tournament, which runs today and Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.

Montana and Prairie View A&M will kick off the event at 2:30 p.m. today followed by UTRGV and Montana at 6:30 p.m. UTRGV will face Prairie View at 11 a.m. Saturday, and UTRGV will play Montana at 2:30 p.m. to close the tourney.

It’s an exciting trip for Howell, who gets to unite friends and teammates from both of her worlds – Missoula, Montana, and the Rio Grande Valley.

“We’re playing more than 2,000 miles away from home this weekend, but thanks to friends and family of (Jackie Howell), we’ll be feeling right at home!” Montana Griz Volleyball tweeted.

“I was kind of nervous when I first found out (UTRGV) was on our schedule,” Howell said. “I was, like, ‘No way, these are my two worlds colliding, and everyone is going to be looking to me. I’m so excited.’”

“I really appreciated it because to play in my hometown is really special to me. The whole city is tight-knit, almost like an extended family. So for so many people to get to come watch, it will just be so exciting,” Howell said on the Montana Griz volleyball site.

According to Montana, “The Grizzlies … might in fact have a home-court advantage. Through the tournament, Montana received a 50-person pass list for its supporters. Six of those tickets went to additional family members making the trip. The other 44 have gone to Howell’s family, with dozens of additional tickets being purchased by family, friends and former coaches.”

Howell is part of the first family of volleyball in South Texas. Her mom, Sonia Trevino, introduced her daughter to the sport and, as a collegiate athlete, played junior college volleyball before playing for Florida State, where the team won two conference titles and earned appearances to the NCAA Tournament twice.

She also has three aunts who played volleyball in college: Diana Lerma (Texas State), Leticia Ibauva (East Texas State) and Gloria Treviño. Lerma and Treviño are the head coaches for Mission Veterans and Edcouch-Elsa, respectively. Several cousins have also dominated headlines on the volleyball court over recent years as well.

Before attending Montana, Howell played her first two years at Tyler Junior College, where she was named All-America honorable mention and was selected to the All-Region XIV, all-conference and all-tournament teams.

Montana is off to its best start in 14 years with a 4-2 record.

“We’re doing better than last year and how we’ve been doing in a while,” said Howell, who is a six-rotation player. “You can tell during our games we are getting better and playing together as a team. And our bench is a lot deeper, so we can scrimmage ourselves.

“I want my teammates to experience the atmosphere and how proud everyone is — my whole family and mom and friends. There is a lot of pride in the Valley and I’m so proud of my home.”

UTRGV is on a hot streak as well. After dropping a heartbreaker to UNLV in five sets to open the season, the Vaqueros have run off seven straight wins and have won 12 of their past 13 sets, sweeping UTSA, North Dakota State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

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EDINBURG — Rio Grande Valley Vipers President Rene Borrego looked across a table at the team’s new head coach and said, “I want one for the thumb.”

He was referring to a fifth NBA G League title during Wednesday’s news conference at Bert Ogden Arena introducing Kevin Burleson as the team’s ninth head coach in franchise history. The Vipers began operations during the 2007-08 season.

The phrase “one for the thumb” was the rallying cry of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1981 as the aging core of a four-time Super Bowl championship squad made one last push for a fifth ring.

Burleson was most recently a player development coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Vipers, an affiliate of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, are the defending NBA G League champions after head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah led them to league-best fourth title, last season. Abdelfattah was hired as a Rockets’ assistant coach during the offseason.

Prior to that title, Joseph Blair coached the team to a third title. Blair is now an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards, after holding similar positions with the Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.

Burleson knows what the incredibly high expectations are, leading the most successful franchise in G League history. He said he’s up for the challenge.

“This is a great opportunity. I’ve been in sports my whole life. If you know a little about my family, we are a sports family and basketball has been my life,” Burleson said. “I always wanted to be a head coach and when this opportunity came about, I jumped on this.

“My coaching career began with the Rockets and it’s great to be back. The Vipers are a first class organization so I’m excited to, yes, get another championship, I’ll say it now. We coach to win so I’m excited to push forward and do it again.”

Burleson has been with the Timberwolves since 2019 after spending the 2018-19 season with the Memphis Grizzlies. He began his coaching career with the Iowa Wolves of the G League in 2017. Burleson spent time – from 2014-17 – in the Rockets organization as a player development coach

A Seattle, Washington native, Burleson played for the University of Minnesota from 1999-2003. After not being selected in the 2003 NBA draft, Burleson began his professional career in Germany for USC Heidelberg in 2003. The Charlotte Bobcats signed him in 2005 but cut him later that season.

He played in the G League for the Idaho Stampede. He finished his playing career with Al-Ittihad Alexandria of Egypt.

Burleson comes from an athletic family that the Seattle Post Intelligence called “the first family of Seattle sports” in a 2006 article.

“The Burlesons — specifically Al Sr., Al Jr., Kevin, Nate and Lyndale — provide bloodlines, if not sweat glands, that locally have no equal in terms of collective success rate and competitive balance,” wrote Dan Raley in the Sept. 12, 2006 edition of the Seattle P-I.

“Coming close are the Tuiasosopos, if not the Richardsons. Yet beginning with Dad, a much-decorated defensive back for the Washington Huskies and CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, the Burlesons boast the most accolades, even offering a sports rarity.

“Nate Burleson, a starting wide receiver for the Seahawks, and Kevin Burleson, a reserve point guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, are believed to be just the second set of siblings to make it to the highest levels of pro football and basketball, joining the now-retired Cris and Butch Carter, Ohio natives and also a pass catcher and playmaker.”

“It’s a unique situation, where there are four boys, close in age, and you could compete against each other every day,” the then 27-year old Kevin Burleson said. “Our dad, being in sports, bred that into us. It’s a competitive household.”

The Vipers have won titles in 2022 (Abdelfattah), 2019 (Blair), 2013 (Nick Nurse) and 2010 (Chris Finch). Nurse also became the first coach to win both a G League and NBA title, taking the Raptors to the championship in 2019. Finch is the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Vipers will open the 2022-23 season on the road Nov. 6 against the Mexico City Capitanes, who will be joining the G League throughout the full season. Then, the Vipers will host the Birmingham Squadron for the home opener at Bert Ogden Arena on Friday, Nov. 11.

Burleson said he became familiar with the unique style of run-and-gun play the Vipers have used throughout the years because of his time with the Rockets, as well as talking to both Finch and Blair while with the Timberwolves.

“Even when I went different places I would say why are we doing it this way, because the Rockets taught me a certain way,” Burleson said. “Even coach Finch, I leaned a lot from him. He’s a great offensive coach and there were very similar things we did over there.”

This season’s home opener will consist of a ring ceremony to celebrate the 2021-22 NBA G League Champions. The Vipers will be presented with their championship ring, while also witnessing the unveiling of the fourth championship banner.

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McALLEN — Last season, Sharyland High could only look up at the four teams that advanced to the playoffs. The Rattlers finished fifth in a stacked district, one spot shy of the postseason.

This morning, however, they have nobody to look up to. They are alone at the top of District 31-5A.

The Rattlers became the only undefeated team in district after a 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 victory over McAllen Memorial on Tuesday in a showdown of the final two unbeaten district squads.

Sharyland improved to 4-0 in district while Memorial slipped to 3-1 in a match considered to be a battle of the two biggest offensive arsenals in the RGV.

Memorial was playing without their leading hitter, junior Amare Hernandez, but the Mustangs still took the first set behind some major attacks from another junior, Lead Garcia, and an impressive defensive display along the front row with Kaitlin Martin and Cameron Vela.

But, in the end, the Rattlers took over with high-pressure serves and more big swings than the Mustangs could keep up with.

“We said we have to be aggressive,” Sharyland High head coach Raul Castillo said. “If we go back and look at previous games, we have to be aggressive with our serves and even if they (Memorial) are out of system, they are going to swing and they are going to swing hard. Sure enough, that’s what they did.

“So our game plan was to get them off the net, then hopefully play some good defense around that block.”

Sophomore Kenisha Martinez and senior America Hernandez paced the Rattlers’ high-caliber offense. The Rattlers trailed 8-7 in the second set before going on a 7-1 run and pull away 14-9. Quality serving from Garcia and Kassie Falcon pulled the Mustangs back to within 17-16.

The Rattlers went on the 6-0 run, however, with Faith Arevalo serving up an ace and Martinez registering a kill off a block.

“We had some pressure but handled it really good, even though it wasn’t our best energy today,” Martinez said. “Coach told us to keep our head up after the first set and we had to serve strong and be more aggressive. Serves are the only thing we can control and we weren’t serving hard at first.

“Then we started to serve better and that helped us a lot.”

Neither team put together long runs, instead collecting two or three points at a time before the opponent took a timeout. At least six times during the match, following a timeout, a service error or attack error would end the run.

Martinez finished the night with a match-high 25 kills and two blocks while Hernandez contributed eight. Kassandra de la Garza had 42 assists for the Rattlers.

Madisyn Sosa paced Memorial with nine kills, 15 digs and four aces, while Garcia tallied eight kills and an ace. Falcon had 21 digs for the Mustangs, and Madison Amaya added 15 assists and one ace.

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EDINBURG — Sarah Cruz blasted a career-high 30 kills and UTRGV overcame a 2-1 set deficit to rally and defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Vaqueros’ home opener as part of the South Texas Showdown on Tuesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

UTRGV improved to 3-1 on the season with the marathon 25-23, 24-26, 31-33, 25-17, 15-9 victory.

UTRGV lost the third set 33-31 in what was the highest-scoring single set in program history. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fell to 0-4 on the season.

“I think we forgot about that third set from the beginning of the fourth set and just tried to focus on our game,” Cruz said. “We tried to stay focused on not what just happened but what was about to happen.”

Middle-hitter Luisa Silva Dos Santos recorded 17 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, many of those kills coming in the final two sets. Her dominance in the closing sets opened the gates for Cruz and Ingridy Foltran, who ended the night with 14 kills.

“In the first set, we were kind of nervous being the first game at home,” Santos said, referring to a crowd of more than 1,900, the second-largest home crowd in program history. “I knew I needed to help and play my game, and not think about anything else other than I need to help and wanted to take pressure off Sarah.

“I think when she started to pound the ball and score on almost every single ball that she got, it really opened and gave me a little more space on the outside and took a little more of the stress I had over there. When she started to score, the communication was better, too.”

Sophomore setter Luana Emiliano contributed 72 of the Vaqueros’ 73 assists.

Leah Stolfus and Kyndal Payne each tallied 16 kills to pace the Islanders.

The Vaqueros improved their attack game throughout the match. Their hitting percentage was 54% during the first set, 60% in the second, 63% in third, 76% in the fourth and 77% in the final set.

UTRGV returns home Sept. 9 against Montana, which features former Mission Veterans standout Jackie Howell.

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EDINBURG — Following UTRGV’s 2-1 start to the volleyball season at the North Texas Invitational, head coach Todd Lowerygained some valuable insight to his squad.

“I don’t know if we have ever come out of first weekend where we felt like we are going to get so much better than we are now,” said Lowery, in his eighth season at the helm. “We’ve had some amazing first weekends where we were like, yeah, we’re good and we see where our ceiling is.

“I don’t think we’ve had a year where we don’t even have an idea of how good this team is going to be like this year.”

The Vaqueros’ first home test takes place at 6:30 tonight against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. The Islanders played a grueling schedule over the weekend, being swept by No. 1-ranked Nebraska and powerhouse Pepperdine before a loss to Tulsa. Meanwhile, UTRGV defeated Jacksonville and North Texas after a thrilling loss to UNLV in five sets. UTRGV held match point during the fourth set but couldn’t hold on.

Tonight’s match, part of the South Texas Showdown, has grown into a rivalry and Lowery said the records are of no indication when the teams meet.

“Obviously it’s going to be close and you can throw the records out the window,” Lowery said. “That’s going to be a match. They just bring organized chaos to the floor. It’s fast and it stresses us out and we just have to be able to handle that stress and do what we are supposed to do on the court.

“The girls have to be mentally locked in and that’s the biggest thing. How focused can we be? If you’re not disciplined for a second against them, they score three points on you.”

Leading the Vaqueros is powerful hitter Sarah Cruz. The fifth-year senior has already been named the Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the week with her performance during the past weekend. A favorite for WAC Player of the Year, Cruz racked up 17 kills against UNLV and 17 against Jacksonville. She capped her performance with 26 kills, 11 digs and five blocks in the win over North Texas. The 26 kills were two short of her career best.

“Sarah is off to a great start and it’s something I kinda called in the offseason,” Lowery said. “Coming off last year, I don’t thinkit’s gonna be a surprise what she’s going to do physically, but mentally this is the best place Sarah has been since she’s beenhere.

“This was her decision — 100% her decision to come back — she had options to go play pro right away but she wanted to get hermaster’s. Education is so important to her and she felt she had more to grow. She really has opened up to that growth processand we’ve been really able to challenge her mentally and physically and have seen that growth come out already early in theseason.”

Cruz said one of the keys to the season is getting comfortable with all the new pieces on the team, transfers and freshmen alike.

“Our weekend went great, especially for our first tournament together,” Cruz said. “Of course, there are things we have to workon but there will always be things to work on as we get better. Being my senior year, there is a little more pressure with the newpieces but I’m trying to be a role model to them and focus on them a little more.”

Having those pieces on the floor and around Cruz has Lowery excited about especially what the WAC season will bring, but also alittle more pressure since UTRGV is hosting the WAC championship this year.

“Having more pieces around her is going to help her have even a better season,” Lowery said. “If (opponents) are going to key onSarah, they are going to get hurt by some other people. If they don’t key on Sarah, she has the ability to really hurt somebody.

“So, it’s going to be interesting to see what teams try to do when they match up against us.”

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MISSION — Sharyland Pioneer’s Mariana Trevino turned to the bench, looked at her coach and simply said, “Sorry, that was mine.”

She was referring to a ball that hit the floor clearly in her zone during the second set of match against Brownsville Veterans on Thursday during the first day of pool play at the Sharyland ISD volleyball tournament.

There were no frills or stoppage of play. In fact, the play had long been forgotten within seconds — maybe less.

It was back to business for the defending District 31-5A and Sharyland ISD tournament champion Diamondbacks.

Trevino, Rebekah Perez and a host of new Diamondbacks went back to work, downing Brownsville Veterans 25-13, 25-21 in less than an hour, and Pioneer won all three of its pool play matches heading into today’s second day of action. Twenty-one teams are competing in the event this year, with matches being held at both Pioneer and Sharyland High.

The single-elimination championship bracket will take place Saturday.

Pioneer is coming off a monumental season in which it claimed a 37-5 overall record and 12-2 mark in District 31-5A, only losing twice in straight sets to McAllen Rowe . But the Diamondbacks lost a large group of powerfully talented seniors to graduation, including The Monitor’s 2021 All-Area Player of the Year, setter Natalie Reyes. Head coach Laura Cavazos, who last week eclipsed the 300-win mark, said there is no comparison from one team to the next. Every year is a new season.

“The challenge is the same: Get them prepared for what’s ahead,” Cavazos said. “We have a core from last year’s team, and they know the expectations and everybody else has filled in nicely. They bring that competitive spirit, and they’ve been in the organization and know what the expectations are.”

That core includes Trevino, libero Jada Lopez and middle hitter Marcela Martinez.

“They bring a wealth of experience from the past two years, so we’re trying to lean on them to be that leadership role and to continue to drive the team forward in all aspects of the team on and off the court,” Cavazos said. “They went through so much and accomplished a lot, and that puts me at ease, too, moving forward, that we have that within that team.”

Trevino said they heard all summer about how they are supposed to perform this year. So far, the “experts” have been wrong. Pioneer goes into the second round of pool play today with a 16-3 record. And, until someone knocks the Diamondbacks off, they are still the defending district champions in the most competitive and toughest district in the Rio Grande Valley.

“Coming in, a lot of people are, like, ‘Oh, Pioneer is not going to be a good team now that they lost a majority of their starters,” Trevino said. “But we just kept practicing and kept a positive mindset. We got off to a good start in the summer and have made a good mark in these preseason games.

“We just have to keep on going, forget any mistakes, communicate and keep our heads up. Anyone comes our way, we’ve got this.”

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McALLEN – About 20 girls battled, clawed and played to near exhaustion Tuesday in the District 31-5A mutual season-opener between McAllen High and McAllen Rowe.

Intruding on three hours, but not quite getting there, there were numerous storylines – each one as good as the other – written throughout the ultra, high-intense marathon of a match that didn’t seem to want to end, but finally did close to 11 p.m. The biggest story line came right at the end as McHi’s Leah McClenny served up an ace, splitting two Rowe back row defenders who each thought the other “had it” and the Bulldogs claimed a 26-24, 22-25, 21-25, 25-15, 16-14 victory at home.

“It felt really good,” McClenny said of the game-winner. “I had missed my serve before so I was like I have to bring it now and tried serving between one of their best players and got the ace. It was amazing.”

McClenny’s performance throughout the match ws nothing short of amazing as the libero registered 35 digs, covered a zone that Rowe found an opening in and shut that down, and at times was part of what looked to be a tennis match between herself and Rowe star hitter Mia Mata, who who slug one at McHi, McClenny would pick up the dig and start the offense up, back and forth

It was a match that could’ve become an ESPN Instant Classic.

Each player who found the court also found a hand in keeping their team in this one.

Rowe, as in the past since under the tutelage of head coach Magda Canales, showed off its defensive prowess and highlighted its most destructive artillery, Mata, who kept striking thunderous shots all over the court. Sometimes, it seemed, her presence alone was worth a point or two. She dominated offensively, was the clear leader while on defense, and did as much damage at times with her serves as with every other piece of weaponry she holds in her impressive arsenal.

On this night, however, it was the synergy of a McHi team that won the battle of kills, 47-35. Junior Katherine Williamson led the way with 16 kills and Gabby Estringel, part of McHi’s Fab Five Freshmen, added 13 kills. McHi also took advantage of one of their strongest points, tallying 20 aces to Rowe’s 10, despite also committing 17 service errors to four by Rowe, according to stats provided by McHi.

Both teams had ample opportunities to make it a shorter night. After McHi won the first set, the Bulldogs led 16-9 in the second set and 18-10 in the third. However, led by Mata and libero Alisa Ramirez, who became shields between the ball and floor, and some offensive help from Brianna Sanchez and Luanice Rivera-Bejarano the Warriors crawled out of both holes to take a 2-1 lead.

Again McHi jumped out early in the fourth set behind three aces from freshman setter Katelyn Pritchard. Again, they led 16-9 before Rowe cut it to 16-12. Leading 18-13, the Bulldogs went a 7-1 run to force the fifth set.

“There was a lot of growing up going on until about 11 at night,” Smith said. “We just got some composure and grew up a lot in those last minutes of the game. It’s a privilege to play in that kind of a moment against a great team and great player – Mia is such an amazing player and she puts you in so many different situations where you really do have to grow up and harness the aspect of the game.

“There’s a difference between having to just step on the floor and having to rest your mind and stay in those battles. This was a slugfest and those kids grew up and my seniors led and thats priceless.”

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McALLEN — With a lineup almost completely unrecognizable a season after graduating nine seniors, McAllen High is a squad with an abundance of freshmen and sophomores.

But down the stretch Friday, facing their biggest test of the 16th annual McHi Poundfest tournament, it was senior Kaydence Pritchard who helped push the Bulldogs to an intense 25-22, 30-29 (tournament matches are capped at 30 points) win over a powerful Harlingen squad led by one of the top hitting duos in the Valley with Juli Bryant and Casey Vidal.

Trailing 22-18 during the second set after a 25-22 victory in the first, Pritchard served up five straight points, alternating powerful serves with a tennis-like version of a drop shot, keeping Harlingen receivers off balance and putting the Bulldogs in a 24-22 lead during a match that Bryant and Vidal did everything they could to force a deciding third set.

“She has a great serve that puts people in very uncomfortable situations,” McHi head coach Michael Smith said. “We’ve been able to get to a point with us comfortably letting her rip it. It’s not always about getting aces, but can we put balls in there to make it tough for a lot of teams to pass and get them out of system. Even if the ball isn’t hitting the floor with an ace, her knockout ability and percentage is super high, probably more than 50% today.

It wasn’t enough, however, as McHi went on to go 3-0 on the day and is 6-0 during the first two days heading into today’s championship match. The Bulldogs also swept PSJA High and Brownsville Veterans on Friday.

Scoring off serves proved to be a big advantage for McHi, collecting 21 aces in the three matches compared to opponents tallying just eight, five of those coming in the PSJA matchup.

The top eight teams from the first two days of pool play advance to today’s championship bracket for a single-elimination tournament. In the quarterfinals, Los Fresnos will play PSJA High and Sharyland High will face McAllen Memorial at 9 a.m., and McHi will face Edinburg Vela and Harlingen will battle McAllen Rowe at 10 a.m. All matches will be played at McHi, with the championship scheduled for 2 p.m. Sharyland, Memorial, McHi, Vela and Rowe are all part of District 31-5A.

“I’m sure if Sharyland Pioneer was here, they’d be right there, too,” said Smith, talking about the defending 31-5A district champion. Last year, five 31-5A teams at one point or another were state-ranked. “(Today) is going to be an early look. This district is going to be a dogfight. Nobody is going to go through this unscathed.”

Despite a near-100% new lineup filled with young faces — including five freshmen and three sophomores (two seniors are out with injuries), the Bulldogs may be taller overall than in previous years and on Friday introduced a variety of hitters to their three opponents as Harlingen was the only team to score more kills than the Bulldogs, winning that battle 23-19. Sophomore Katherine Williamson led McHi with 17 kills on the day, followed by freshman lefty Gabby Estringel with 16, and the young guns from McHi outscored opponents 59-52 on kills.

“Gabby has been playing middle all her life, and we’ve asked her to play some right side and do some other things,” Smith said. “Sometimes I forget she’s just 14 years old. These girls are ready. They may be freshmen, but they’ve played a lot of volleyball and at the highest levels.

“My message from Day 1 to all of them has been, ‘Don’t wait, don’t think it may not be your turn,’ I want them to show up and be ready to go. Today, all the girls contributed from different parts of the court. It helps we have different players with different strengths. Some are called on for some things and some come in with other strengths. It’s a process.”

The Bulldogs’ only loss this season came in four sets at Laredo Alexander. Since then, the Bulldogs have reeled off six straight wins during what many expected to be a rebuilding year.

“I don’t know that anybody has told us or the girls that,” Smith said. “These girls are ready.”

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