By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial expected quite a challenge from Edcouch-Elsa in volleyball when the two District 32-5A frontrunners with 2-0 records played Saturday.
Sure enough, it wasn’t at all easy, particularly in the third game, as the 32-5A defending champion Lady Chargers prevailed 25-18, 25-20, 28-26 on their home court to remain undefeated in conference action. E-E, 2-1, now slips to second place in 32-5A.
“I hadn’t seen Edcouch-Elsa play yet this season, but I heard they were pretty good and that we had better watch out,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “I knew they were going to be a tough opponent because Edcouch-Elsa is always good.”
After staying just ahead of the Lady Yellowjackets most of the time during the first two games, the Lady Chargers found themselves battling from behind throughout the third set.
E-E even led by as many as five points twice in the third game, 19-14 and 20-15, before the Lady Chargers, overcoming mistakes of their own, somehow rallied to take the final set 28-26.
It was tied 24-24, 25-25 and 26-26 before an E-E hitting error gave the Lady Chargers a 27-26 edge. Then a block by Rebecca Cardenas on the final point clinched the match for Brownsville Veterans.
Mares had mixed feelings about the Lady Chargers winning the third game in comeback fashion despite displaying some hitting errors and errant serves.
“I told the girls after the match, ‘Seriously, you guys are going to give me a lot more grey hair,’” Mares said. “(I told them) ‘We can’t be missing serves at the end (of a game) like that,’ but you know what, we did dig out of the deficit we were in and fight back.
“That’s something we need to learn to do,” she added. “Come playoffs, we might be in those situations. It wasn’t good that they made mistakes and fell behind, but it was good that we came back.”
The Lady Chargers were sparked by Cynthia Garcia with 18 kills. Also for Brownsville Veterans, Cassie Valdez had nine kills, three aces, 20 assists and 17 digs. Teammates Kasandra Jimenez and Pamela Sanchez had 34 and 18 digs, respectively, while Sanchez also had a pair of aces.
The Lady Yellowjackets are currently being directed by coach Dragan Markovic, a former assistant at UT-Brownsville under Todd Lowery, now the UT-Rio Grande Valley volleyball coach.
Although it appears Brownsville Veterans and E-E are the top two teams in 32-5A this season, Markovic wouldn’t go quite that far in assessing his team.
“I’d like to say that (we’re the two best teams in our district), but I’m someone who respects every single team we face and I’m preparing for every single team,” Markovic said. “Until we beat Brownsville Veterans, I’m not considering that we’re a dominant team (in the district) or anything like that.
“I’m trying to instill the mentality with our girls that we approach every single team and play the same way,” he added. “There are no easy matches or (too) hard matches. We have to come and play our best every single time.
“This Brownsville Veterans team is a very good team. We knew that when we were preparing for this match. At the end of the match (especially in the third game) we got momentum and came together. We were a step from winning (Game 3), but luck was not on our side.”
Stat leaders for the Lady Yellowjackets included Ashley Galarza (two kills, two digs, two digs), Madeline Acevedo (nine digs, one kill) and Odessa Mata (nine digs, one kill).