NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Edinburg Vela had big leads early in both of the sets they won Tuesday night against Brownsville Hanna. The Golden Eagles took a page from the SaberCats book in the fifth set, however, to storm to a 15-4 win and advance to the area round of the 6A playoffs.
Both teams ended their regular season within reach of outright district titles. Edinburg Vela finished tri-champions with Edinburg High and Edinburg North. The Eagles couldn’t catch Los Fresnos, dropping their final regular-season game just a week ago.
The visiting Eagles used that loss as motivation to come from behind and hold off the SaberCats 27-25, 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 15-4.
Junior Odalys Gonzalez led the way for Hanna with 28 kills and Ari Arceneaux wasn’t far behind with 21 kills of her own.
“The last district game that we lost, we knew that we had something to lose,” Gonzalez said. “But today we played to win. We put all the work into practice and it showed off on the court. We wanted to get co-district champs but we didn’t accomplish that so we wanted to advance instead.”
The tall, lanky junior and physical senior Arceneaux took over in the second and third frames to power the Eagles to decisive wins.
Tabitha Fernandez had 42 assists and was able to keep the SaberCats on their heels with sets to the Eagles’ main hitters from different looks.
Hanna coach Ansgar Hagermann wasn’t surprised his team needed all five sets. Extra drama has been the blueprint all season for Hanna who finished 6-2 in 32-6A.
“All of our matches have been like that,” Hagermann said. “I don’t know any better. I want to win in four or three but that never happens.”
Vela almost didn’t make it to the fifth set after watching a 10-4 lead slip away in the fourth set. The SaberCats defense played their best in the third and fourth as senior libero Julia Cordon was able to step up and get digs on Arceneaux and Gonzalez.
Cordon led the defense with 39 digs.
She added an ace in the fourth to help but away their biggest set win of the evening at 25-18.
Glenys Maldonado was the top attacker for the SaberCats with 38 kills. Miranda Negrete had nine kills and Analisa Campos had 36 assists for Vela.
Along with secondary scoring woes, Vela was hampered by serving and hitting errors.
Hanna went back on the attack in the fifth set, jumping out to a 6-0 start before Vela could catch their breath.
“They were very down after the district loss because we fought so hard for it all season,” Hagermann. “It was amazing we had like one week to get it out of our system. We have been chasing this bi-district title for five years. We’ve always gone out in the first round and been close every single time, but today it was meant to be.”
The Golden Eagles win was part of District 32-6A’s sweep of the 31-6A playoff qualifiers. Hanna, Brownsville Rivera, Los Fresnos and Harlingen South all earned area round appearances.
Brownsville Hanna faces the winner of Laredo Alexander who swept PSJA North Tuesday night.