KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Harlingen South isn’t done yet.
After dropping the first set against Edinburg High, the Lady Hawks dug deep, fed off their home crowd and were led by the offensive duo of Mya Aguirre and Mikela Mireles as the Lady Hawks roared back to win 19-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 on Tuesday night.
The win sends the Lady Hawks into the Class 6A area round to face McAllen High with the time and place to be decided.
“We knew what we had to do on our home court,” junior libero Evelyn Yanez said. “We caught fire after that first set, and we didn’t look back. Having a loud home crowd is huge; we love them as much as we love our own teammates. There was so much excitement after the game, but we know this is another week and another game coming up, and we are ready to get back to work.”
South’s bi-district title is the first since 2011 and also is a first for South coach Anissa Lucio.
“This was about us getting a banner and, and now we can do that. That is what the girls wanted to get, that was their goal.” Lucio said. “We know we are playing well and we are going to use that to our advantage, and we are going to control what we can control. We know McHi is a tough team, but we are going to go in there with confidence.”
The Lady Hawks continue to ride the hot hands of Aguirre, who served up 22 kills, 22 assists and 16 digs. Her batterymate, Mireles, also continued her offensive tear with a team-high 30 kills and 22 assists.
“Both Mikela and Mya have been such an offensive force for us,” Lucio said. “They both have picked us up when we needed them, both of them are very smart players. They know when to be aggressive.”
South shook off a slow start in the first set and gained momentum in each of the last three sets. Heading into the fourth set, South led 13-9 with Edinburg High creeping its way back in the match and cutting into the lead.
South’s offense responded and took their lead to 17-11, with all of the momentum in their favor.
“It is everything, we continue to feed off of our student body, our administration and our entire school, and it helps our girls to have all that support,” Lucio said.
While a majority of the team is comprised of underclassmen, seniors Delores Mendoza and Alyssa Rios have taken in the playoff run, gone through the transition of a new coach and have seen the program turn around.
“This is such an amazing feeling to come back from winning one district game last year to winning a bi-district title,” Mendoza said. “This year we are all one, we all have such a good chemistry and bond with each other, and it shows when we take the court.”
Zoe Garcia finished with a team-high 53 digs, followed by Allyah Guevara with 22 digs and Yanez with 24 digs.