By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

What began as an apparently easy win going away for the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds became an improbable comeback victory for the Rio Hondo Bobcats.

Rio Hondo trailed 27-0 with barely a minute gone in the second quarter before tying the score at 27-27 and 34-34 and rallying to pull out a 52-48 non-district triumph Friday at Canales Field.

It was the first win of the season for the Bobcats (1-1), who were coming off last week’s 36-33 loss at La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.

“It was a great comeback,” Rio Hondo coach Rocky James said. “I thought my team might shut it down when we trailed 27-0, but we came back.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game like this one,” James added. “It was back and forth. I was worried that the last team with the ball was going to win, but in this case, it didn’t happen.

“It was a great win for the Rio Hondo Bobcats, and it’s something we can build upon.”

On the other side of the field, SJA coach Tino Villarreal was shaking his head.

“I think we have a real good team if we can just put together four quarters,” Villarreal said. “I’m at a loss (for words). Hats off to Rio Hondo.”

SJA led 20-0 after one quarter and 27-20 at intermission. It was deadlocked 34-34 going into the fourth quarter.

At the end, trailing 52-48, the Bloodhounds (1-2) drove to the Rio Hondo 8-yard line in the final minute before a penalty took them back to the 17. From there, SJA failed to connect on two pass attempts and surrendered the ball on downs with five seconds left to the Bobcats, who ran one play to run out the clock and walk away with an unlikely victory.

Rio Hondo quarterback Tyler Bush rushed for a game-high 188 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 70 and three yards while throwing TD passes of 10 yards to Ruben Hernandez, seven yards to Erik Pizarro and eight yards to Cross Gonzalez.

The eight-yarder to Gonzalez with 3:20 left gave the Bobcats the lead, 52-48, for only the second time in the game and stood up as the final score.

Rio Hondo tailback Adrian Torres rushed for 104 yards with TD runs of seven, eight and five yards.

SJA had trailed 46-41 with 8:25 remaining on Torres’ third TD run of five yards. But the Bloodhounds’ Pablo Zolezzi caught a 38-yard scoring pass from QB Kai Money to put SJA back into the lead at 48-46 with 7:24 to go before Gonzalez’s eight-yard TD reception gave the Bobcats the lead for good 52-48.

On the night, Money rushed for 160 yards and had scoring runs of 85 and 40 yards while throwing TD passes of 30 and 38 yards to Zolezzi, 90 and 12 yards to Keaton Cackley and 15 yards to Andres Martinez.

The Bloodhounds were coming off last week’s 58-8 win at home against Lyford.

Next Friday, SJA plays its first road game of the season at Raymondville, while Rio Hondo plays its home opener against Hidalgo.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

Los Fresnos and Rivera have emerged as co-leaders with 2-0 records in the District 32-6A volleyball race.

They’re on course to play each other Sept. 26 at Rivera.

Both teams won their district matches Tuesday in three games as Los Fresnos triumphed at home 25-14, 25-12, 26-24 against Harlingen South and Rivera won at Harlingen High 25-21, 25-15, 25-23.

In 32-6A’s other two matches Tuesday, it was San Benito defeating Weslaco East 25-16, 25-18, 25-10 and Hanna downing Weslaco High in three straight games.

Behind undefeated Rivera and Los Fresnos in the standings, all at 1-1, are Hanna, Harlingen High, San Benito and Weslaco High. At 0-2 are Weslaco East and South.

“This district is turning out to be everything I thought it would be,” said Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods, whose Lady Falcons are defending 32-6A champions. “It’s going to be a dogfight all the way through. It’s going to be a matter of whichever team is ready to win on any given night. When the other (district) teams play us, they all pick it up, so we have to be ready for that.”

At the start of the season in August, the Lady Falcons were missing some players due to injury. Woods said those players are all back now and thriving.

“We’re very deep on our bench,” she said. “I can sub two, four and six (players) at a time. That tells you my players are pretty equally matched. We’re going full force now.”

District action continues at noon Saturday with Weslaco East at Los Fresnos, Hanna at South, Harlingen High at Weslaco High and San Benito at Rivera.

32-5A UPDATE

Just like in 32-6A, teams in District 32-5A each have played two conference matches.

The only team winning in three games Tuesday was Brownsville Veterans Memorial defeating Mercedes 25-14, 25-21, 25-22 on the road.

Elsewhere Tuesday in 32-5A, it was Pace over Porter 23-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 15-8; Edcouch-Elsa over Donna High 25-17, 25-7, 17-25, 15-25, 15-9 and Lopez over Donna North 25-23, 24-26, 25-12, 25-19.

Pace coach Gavin Rudder said Porter has a difficult team to beat. He said it took quite an effort by his squad to come back and win after losing the first two games to the Cowgirls.

“They’re a scrappy team that never gives up,” Rudder said of Porter. “We changed our lineup and made some adjustments that helped us on defense and with our hitting and blocking.

“(Coming back to win like that) gives us more confidence going into our district match (at home) Saturday against Mercedes,” he added. “A boost in confidence was just what we needed.”

Leading the way for Pace was Stephanie Saenz, who was coming off an injury. She had 11 kills.

Besides Mercedes at Pace, other 32-5A matches at 1 p.m. Saturday include Lopez at Donna High and Porter at Donna North. The key match in the district at 4 p.m. Saturday finds Brownsville Veterans (2-0) at home against E-E (2-0).

LADY TARPONS UPDATE

Since losing their District 32-4A opener on Sept. 5, the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons have won two straight matches to stand 2-1 in conference play.

They won on the road Tuesday in a tight contest at Hidalgo 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-12.

The Lady Tarpons next play host to La Feria at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

LOS FRESNOS — The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons face a tall challenge this season in District 32-6A volleyball.

They’re trying to capture a fifth straight district title which would set a school record.

The Lady Falcons are off to a strong start in their quest to achieve that goal as they improved to 2-0 in 32-6A action with Tuesday’s 25-14, 25-12, 26-24 victory at home against Harlingen South (0-2).

“We haven’t played our best volleyball yet,” said Los Fresnos’ Giselle Ibarra, a senior outside hitter. “We’re just working on it and trying our best. I think we’re becoming better with every match.”

Los Fresnos began district play last Saturday with a three-game sweep at San Benito.

The Lady Falcons will try to improve their 32-6A record to 3-0 when they take on Weslaco East at noon Saturday in Los Fresnos.

Actually, the Lady Falcons aren’t used to losing in district all that often as they’ve gone 14-0 in 32-6A during each of the past two seasons. So far, they’re following the same path taken by previous Los Fresnos teams.

Although it was a three-game sweep Tuesday for the Lady Falcons, the Lady Hawks gave them quite a battle in the third set.

“We started out super hot the first two games and then South really got hot in the third game,” Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said. “I felt that we weren’t playing that bad, South just (got hot and) kept up with us. We’re glad to get this win. We’re 2-0 and we know we’ve got some big challenges ahead of us in district.

“I told the girls (during a timeout), ‘South lit a fire and you let yours go out,’” Woods added.

The Lady Hawks tied the score 13 times in Game 3, including the final time at 24-24. South even led three times at 9-8, 10-9 and 16-15.

But Los Fresnos kept its composure and didn’t allow the match to go beyond three games. Hitting errors by the Lady Hawks on the final two points in Game 3 allowed the Lady Falcons to sweep the match.

“We made some adjustments and definitely made some improvements tonight,” Lady Hawks coach Anissa Lucio said. “Los Fresnos has some strong hitters and our defense stepped up (in the third game).

“This is definitely a competitive district this season,” Lucio added. “It could be anyone in those those four spots (making the playoffs from our district). That’s what makes it fun.”

Ibarra led the Lady Falcons with 15 kills, four digs and two blocks. Also for Los Fresnos, Emma Stambaugh had nine digs and six kills, Kaytlin Mata had seven digs, two blocks and two kills, Sandy Salazar had five digs and four kills, Alex Garcia had eight digs, Sarah Villarreral had seven digs and 19 assists and Isis Delgado had 24 digs.

For South, Cameron Del Angel had 19 digs and seven kills, Annelle Rodriguez had six kills and six blocks, Mikela Mireles had five kills and five digs, Vanessa Santillan had 10 assists and six digs, Mya Aguirre had seven assists and five digs, and Zoe Garcia had 20 digs.

South next plays at home at noon Saturday against Hanna.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

The four teams that advanced to the playoffs last year in District 32-6A volleyball are paired in conference openers Saturday to highlight the 32-6A schedule.

In those matches, it’s Los Fresnos at San Benito at 2 p.m. and Hanna at Rivera at 3 p.m. In other conference openers Saturday, it’s Harlingen South at Harlingen High at noon and Weslaco East at Weslaco High at 2 p.m.

Normally, 32-6A matches on Saturday start at noon, but this week, due to student testing on that day, the contests are beginning a few hours later for a majority of the squads.

Los Fresnos enters the new 32-6A season as the winner of four straight district titles. Capturing a fifth consecutive crown in 2017 would mark a first for the Lady Falcons at their school.

“Yes, we are excited,” Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said when asked if she was glad to see district starting after a month of non-district action and tournaments.

The Lady Falcons went 14-0 in 32-6A a year ago. It was their second straight season to go undefeated in 32-6A.

Still, at this point, it doesn’t appear very likely that anyone will go through conference play with an unbeaten record this time as this could be quite a year of parity in 32-6A.

“I feel that we’re in a tough district,” said Weslaco High coach Axle Valle after her team won at Pace 25-18, 25-16, 25-21 on Tuesday to complete non-district play. “It depends on which team shows up to play on a particular day. I am both excited and nervous. You’ve got teams like Harlingen High that look like a totally different (improved) team right now. District-wide, it’s going to be very tough.”

The teams in 32-6A appear to be going into district with plenty of optimism for what is ahead.

“I’m just real proud of my team,” said Stephanie Garza, a senior team captain for Rivera. “We’re coming back strong (to district). We’ve had some bounces (diversions) in the road along the way (so far), but we’re coming together.”

Rivera’s Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra captured her 500th career coaching victory at home last Friday as the Lady Raiders won 25-17, 25-12, 25-12 against Edinburg High. Her victory total increased to 501 on Tuesday as the Lady Raiders triumphed 25-22, 25-10, 25-15 at Mercedes to complete their non-district schedule.

DISTRICT 32-5A

Brownsville’s four 32-5A schools are paired against each other as conference action begins in that district on Saturday as well.

With both matches starting at 4 p.m., it’s Pace at Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Lopez at Porter.

Brownsville Veterans is the defending 32-5A champion. The Lady Chargers took the district title with a 14-0 record last season.

The Lady Chargers tuned up for Saturday’s 32-5A opener with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-12 non-district road win at PSJA High on Tuesday.

Brownsville Veterans has been missing some key players due to injury so far this season, but they’re coming back and that’s helping the squad return to full strength as it defends the 32-5A crown.

“Tuesday (against PSJA High) was actually the first match I had everyone, and we tried a new lineup,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “It’s a good thing that it seems to work, so hopefully we can continue improving.”

In other 32-5A openers Saturday, it’s Mercedes at Donna High at 1 p.m. and Edcouch-Elsa at Donna North at 4 p.m.

TOUGH START

Port Isabel began District 32-4A action Tuesday on the road against Raymondville and suffered a close, five-set defeat — 25-27, 25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 15-7.

The Lady Tarpons went through a rare season of not making the playoffs a year ago. They’re determined to reverse that trend in 2017. With players at the net such as middle blockers Olivia Soliz and Jane Christiansen, the Lady Tarpons figure to have a strong chance in their district. Those two middle blockers were quite active up front against Raymondville, the runner-up in 32-4A last season.

The Lady Tarpons continue their 32-4A schedule at home at 2 p.m. Saturday against Grulla.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald

The final tune-up match leading up to district arrived Tuesday for the Pace volleyball team.

The Lady Vikings played host to Weslaco High and came up short 25-18, 25-16, 25-21.

The Lady Panthers, playing a decidedly more consistent game than Pace, managed to pull away and prevail at the end three straight times despite some deadlocked scores in each game. The two teams were tied 16-16 in the opening game, 8-8 in the second set and 21-21 in the third.

For the most part, the Lady Vikings battled from behind during the entire match. When they did happen to come back and pull even, what followed was usually a serve into the net or a serve or volley sailing beyond the back line that all too often caused their undoing while opening the door for the Lady Panthers.

Pace displayed some strong play at times, but it was still an overall frustrating evening for the home team.

Pace coach Gavin Rudder declined to comment after the match.

The victory gave Weslaco High a three-match winning streak as it opens District 32-6A competition at home against Weslaco East at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“I feel good about this match, although I came into it a little nervous,” Weslaco High coach Axle Valle said. “We were on a two-match winning streak at home coming into tonight and any away match is a little nerve-wracking after a long day of school. Then you’re traveling, so you wonder how the girls will be. But I feel really good with how we did.

“We learned from this match as we do from every match, win or lose,” Valle added. “I told the girls, ‘Let’s get this ‘W’ on the road and it’ll set the pace for district.’”

Meanwhile, Pace has spent the past month since the season opened playing non-district matches against as many Class 6A opponents as possible, such as Weslaco High, in an effort to prepare for District 32-5A competition, which begins Saturday as well. The Lady Vikings play at Brownsville Veterans Memorial, the 32-5A defending champion, at 4 p.m. Saturday.

For the Lady Panthers, Tuesday’s stat leaders included Kim Villarreal, Felicia Ortiz and Geaceli Orive with 11, six and four kills, respectively. Teammate Sofia Espinoza, a setter, led Weslaco High with 12 assists.

Rudder said there were no stats of note to report for Pace.

ROY HESS | Brownsville Herald

The time for district play in Metro-area volleyball is quickly drawing near.

High school teams have had roughly a month to prepare for district since the season began Aug. 7.

The non-district preliminaries are almost over and conference action begins Sept. 9 in Districts 32-6A and 32-5A. District 32-4A, which includes Port Isabel, starts next Tuesday.

Now, more than ever, teams are focusing on being ready for conference play. And some conferences, such as nine-team District 31-5A which includes South Texas powerhouse Mission Veterans, already have started.

The impending start of district was on the minds of the Hanna Lady Golden Eagles and Lopez Lady Lobos on Tuesday when they played each other in a non-conference match.

Hanna prevailed 19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-14 to keep its momentum going.

“We’re bonding a lot more, we’re connecting with each other and we all have our minds set on what we want to see happen in District (32-6A),” said Hanna’s Melina Morales, a senior libero/defensive specialist. “We still have to practice on some things, but I think we’ll be ready for conference play. It’s going to be a tough district, and I think we can pull it off (and return to the playoffs). It’ll be good.”

Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said he believes the 32-6A race should be “wide open” this season with his Lady Eagles, Los Fresnos, Rivera, San Benito and Harlingen High all looking pretty solid thus far.

The Lady Eagles continue non-district play with a match at home against Brownsville Veterans Memorial at 6 p.m. Friday before participating in the eight-team Labor Day Weekend Tournament on Saturday at McAllen Memorial.

499 AND COUNTING

Rivera’s Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra reached 499 wins in her storied coaching career thanks to Tuesday’s 25-15, 25-10, 25-19 non-district victory at Edinburg North. She goes after victory No. 500 at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Rivera as the Lady Raider play host to non-district opponent Edinburg High.

During her 25-year head coaching career at Rivera, “Coach Ave” has taken the Lady Raiders to the state playoffs 17 times, including eight times as a district champion. Her teams have advanced to the regional tournament five times, the last of which was 2013.

Along with Hanna and Los Fresnos from the Metro area, the Lady Raiders also are scheduled to play in Saturday’s Labor Day Weekend Tournament at McAllen Memorial.

ON THE RUN

Apparently at least one Lopez volleyball player has wondered aloud during practice about exactly which sport she had signed up to participate in.

Lady Lobos coach Jacquelynn Touchet said she likes to keep her team in prime physical condition with plenty of running drills, and one of the girls recently was heard saying, “Is this volleyball or track?”

Touchet responded by saying, “We run them a lot. Speed is important.”

The Lady Lobos play their final non-district match at 1 p.m. Saturday at La Feria. The Lady Lobos are going after back-to-back trips to the playoffs out of 32-5A.

CLOSE ONE

St. Joseph Academy’s 11-team tournament was canceled last weekend and the Lady Bloodhounds bounced back from that disappointment by winning at home Tuesday in quite a close match against Santa Maria. The scores were 29-27, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20.

“We are still working on trying to be consistent, especially with our serving,” said SJA coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino, whose team is playing its first season of varsity competition. “We’re kind of on a roller coaster right now. We’re up and down. If we can ever hit that groove where we’re steady and more consistent, I see great things in store for this team. I’m seeing glimpses of greatness when we’re on our game.”

The Lady Bloodhounds next play host to Grulla in non-district action at noon Saturday.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald

Rivera volleyball coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra thought she would reach her 500th career coaching victory sometime this weekend at the Sharyland Tournament in Mission, but Hurricane Harvey had other ideas.

The threat of Hurricane Harvey complicated those plans as Brownsville volleyball teams were told Thursday by the BISD athletic department they couldn’t travel to this week’s away tournaments.

Rivera, Porter, Pace and Hanna were scheduled to play in the Sharyland Tournament beginning Thursday, while Lopez was entered in the Hidalgo Tournament and Brownsville Veterans Memorial was to play in the Laredo United Tournament.

Also, a two-day, 11-team tournament starting Friday with St. Joseph Academy as the host school was canceled.

Avelar-Guerra was going into the Sharyland Tournament with 498 career victories. She and the Lady Raiders expected to witness the milestone 500th match victory sometime at the scheduled three-day tournament.

Several of the Brownsville volleyball teams received the news not to travel just as they were preparing to board their busses on Thursday morning.

“The girls were a little upset and sad,” Avelar-Guerra said. “They wanted to see us get to 500, plus it was the last tournament of the season for our seniors.

“But safety of the students is the most important thing,” she added. “When the girls heard that the 500th win might possibly come at home now, they felt better about things. You can never count your chickens (before they hatch), so we’ll just see what happens (as far as getting to 500).”

Without playing in the Sharyland Tournament, the Lady Raiders now will continue their non-district schedule with a match at Edinburg North on Tuesday and a home match against Edinburg High on Sept. 2. There’s also an away non-district match at Mercedes on Sept. 5.

When asked about reaching 500 wins, Avelar-Guerra said, “Yes, it’s a special milestone I’ve wanted to reach, and (at one point) I wasn’t sure I would ever get there. In some ways, I’d like to see it happen soon (before District 32-6A starts) because it might be putting more pressure on our girls. It’s been a goal of mine to achieve it.”

It appeared the only Metro-area team playing volleyball on Thursday was Los Fresnos at the Sharyland Tournament, which continued as planned Thursday, but without participants from Brownsville.

The Lady Falcons were already on their way to Mission when the news broke that the Brownsville teams wouldn’t be traveling to the tournament.

Los Fresnos dropped its first tournament match Thursday against Harlingen High 25-19,25-22, 16-14. The Lady Falcons bounced back to beat Edinburg Vela 25-21, 25-23.

“Our athletic director (Patrick Brown) told me that if it started getting bad, I could come home at any time,” Lady Falcons coach Becky Woods said.

Woods said Los Fresnos CISD superintendent Gonzalo Salazar was issuing a statement saying all athletic events scheduled Friday were to be canceled.

In addition to the Lady Bloodhounds, the volleyball tournament at SJA scheduled Friday and Saturday was to include Athlos Leadership Academy, Brownsville First Baptist, Brownsville IDEA Frontier, IDEA Donna, IDEA San Juan, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, San Perlita, La Villa and Juan Diego Academy.

Dolores Olguin-Trevino, SJA coach, released a statement Thursday to the participating teams saying, “I regret to inform you that the Catholic Diocese has canceled school on Friday due to the impending storm. Unfortunately, that means the SJA Tournament will be canceled also.”

The mandate from BISD for no athletic activities by its schools this weekend also applied to scheduled football scrimmages and cross country meets.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

Dolores Olguin-Trevino became frustrated some time ago when she was unable to enter her St. Joseph Academy volleyball team into any of the tournaments taking place this weekend in the Rio Grande Valley.

As a result, the SJA coach created her own two-day, 11-team tournament starting at 1 p.m. Friday with the Lady Bloodhounds as hosts. The championship match is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Lady Bloodhounds are playing their first season of varsity volleyball.

Along with SJA, other teams in the tournament are Athlos Leadership Academy, Brownsville First Baptist, Brownsville IDEA Frontier, IDEA Donna, IDEA San Juan, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, San Perlita, La Villa and Juan Diego Academy.

“It’s a small tourney, but I think the teams coming are pretty competitive,” Olguin-Trevino said. “(This season) I’ve only seen one, Athlos, but I played some of these schools last year, and they were good.

“I would like my team to come away (from this tournament) with the knowledge that they can compete with any team they encounter if they communicate, play united and put in the work prior to the competition,” she added. “We’re not necessarily very tall, and we’re young, but if my girls go out and play like I’ve seen them play, we could have a chance of getting into the championship match.”

One of the tournament favorites figures to be Santa Rosa. The Lady Warriors took fourth place behind Hanna, PSJA Southwest and Corpus Christi Carroll at last weekend’s Volley at the Beach Tournament in Port Isabel.

BENEFICIAL

It’s been quite some time since the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons went to a volleyball tournament and came away with no wins to show for their efforts.

That happened last weekend for the Lady Falcons at the Northeast ISD Invitational Tournament in San Antonio.

But veteran coach Becky Woods is not fretting over her team’s participation in its latest tournament. Instead, she said the experience was an eye-opener that should help the Lady Falcons become more motivated and focused as they soon go after a record-setting fifth consecutive conference title in District 32-6A.

“Yes, it was very beneficial,” Woods said of the Alamo City trip. “We needed that going into our matches at the Sharyland Tournament and then starting district. I’m getting my injured players back one at a time, and just in time, which will be a great asset to the team. Maybe now all of our injuries are over for the season and we can get down to business.

“We are going for a fifth straight district title and my girls are excited,” Woods added. “They want to be the first team (at our school) to do it. We have to play each match one at a time and not look beyond that.”

The Lady Falcons improved to 11-6 on the season with Tuesday’s 25-10, 25-15, 25-15 non-district win at Porter.

HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE

Metro-area teams are traveling to various locations for tournaments this weekend.

The most popular destination appears to be the Sharyland Tournament starting today where Los Fresnos, Rivera, Pace, Porter and Hanna are entered.

Also from the Metro-area and entered in out-of-Brownsville tournaments are the Lopez Lady Lobos at the Hidalgo Tournament and the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers at the Laredo United Tournament.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

By ROY HESS, Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — Hanna and PSJA Southwest each emerged from pool play with 3-0 records during Thursday’s opening-round action at the seventh annual Volley at the Beach Tournament.

The three-day, 12-team tournament runs through Saturday. Pool play was staged in two four-team groups Thursday at Port Isabel’s main and practice gyms.

A third group of four teams will compete in pool-play matches beginning at 10 a.m. today at Port Isabel’s main gym.

When asked about his team’s 3-0 showing, Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said the Lady Golden Eagles faced some strong competition.

“We definitely had to work for it today,” he said. “We started slow again and dropped a set against Weslaco East (after our win over La Feria), and then Lopez gave us some great competition, too.

“The pools seemed to be pretty even,” he added. “We’ve got some work ahead of us (to finish well in the tournament).”

Hanna opened the day with a 25-19, 25-22 victory over La Feria and then prevailed against Weslaco East 23-25, 25-19, 15-6. In the final match of the day, Hanna held off Lopez 25-18, 26-24.

The Lady Eagles and all the other teams that played Thursday are off today and return Saturday for tournament bracket play. Hanna figures to receive one of the top seeds for bracket play along with PSJA Southwest.

The Lady Javelinas opened the day with a 25-19, 25-9 triumph over Monte Alto before defeating Santa Rosa 25-19, 25-22 and Progreso 25-10, 25-18.

“I’m very happy with the way our girls played,” PSJA Southwest coach Jaclyn Olvera said. “We still have a lot of things we need to work on, though. Our District (31-6A) is pretty tough, so we still have to improve a lot. But it’s better now than in years past, I would say.

“We’re trying to run plays and do some different things that we haven’t done before offensively,” she added. “We’re working hard on that.”

After PSJA Southwest, Santa Rosa had the second-best finish in its pool in the main gym, going 2-1. Apart from losing to the Lady Javelinas, the Lady Warriors defeated Progreso 25-16, 25-23 and downed Monte Alto 24-26, 25-19, 15-9.

On Thursday’s other pool-play group in the practice gym, La Feria went 2-1 to take second place behind Hanna. Aside for its loss to the Lady Eagles, La Feria captured three-set triumphs over Lopez 19-25, 25-13, 15-13 and against Weslaco East 25-20, 17-25, 15-12.

Six pool-play matches are on tap today in Port Isabel’s main gym involving host Port Isabel, Corpus Christi Carroll, West Oso and Rio Hondo.

The tournament championship is scheduled at 5 p.m. Saturday.