SAN ANTONIO — During a season in which McAllen Memorial’s middles were a driving force as the Mustangs made a deep playoff run, it was the bigs for San Antonio Clark that ended Memorial’s season in dominant fashion.
Elise McGhee, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter, and 6-foot hitter Grace Gibson combined for 28 kills and kept Memorial’s defense busy en route to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-14 sweep in the Class 6A regional semifinals Friday at the Alamo Convocation Center.
The loss ends Memorial’s season with a 36-10 record.
The pressure applied by Clark’s monstrous middles kept Memorial from being able to set up multiple attacks in response, sending over free balls and letting the Cougars attack again.
Memorial’s defense kept the Mustangs in the game, as did hitters Jocelyn Fernandez and Natalie Silva. Fernandez led the team with nine kills while Silva had six kills.
“Yeah, they were big and they hit the ball hard,” Memorial first-year head coach Ashley Doffing said. “But we’ll be back. It definitely says something that two McAllen teams are representing all of the Valley. I couldn’t be any more proud of our girls and the way the defense stepped up and played.”
The first set was a prime example of things to come. Memorial went on a short run like it did down 15-9, behind kills from Silva and Sydney Marburger, only to watch it cut short either by McGhee or Gibson. During the second set, Clark jumped out to a 17-6 lead, several points coming off Memorial attack errors as they looked for gaps in the Cougars defense or hit the attack a bit too hard, resulting in a ball going out.
“This just puts the goal a little higher for next year,” said Doffing, whose team reached the regional semifinals for the second straight year. “It’s something McAllen can handle. The girls need to continue to believe in the process. We’ll be back.”
UPDATE: Clark lost San Antonio Clemens, which defeated McAllen High on Friday, in three sets on Saturday in the Regional Final.