EDINBURG — Kenya Ibarra slammed home 26 kills as Brownsville Rivera topped Edinburg High in three sets on the road Monday in a Class 6A bi-district playoff matchup.
The Raiders won 25-22, 25-15, 25-17 to advance to the area round. They will face tonight’s winner between Laredo United and McAllen Rowe later this week.
The Bobcats, who came in winners in six of their previous seven matches, saw their season end at 18-20.
Ibarra, a sophomore, added four aces and eight digs for the Raiders (28-12). Sophomore Clarissa Olivares contributed 38 assists and freshman libero Richelle Guerra added 32 digs and three aces.
“She played awesome,” Rivera’s 27-year head coach Mary Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. “She was on fire today. She was able to move the ball and hit hard to keep them more on their toes which, I think, really helped.”
“The girls really came together,” Avelar-Guerra said. “They played as a team. They played hard. They were aggressive the whole time.”
Rivera also swept Edinburg High during a regular season matchup Aug. 31.
“Everybody showed how much they wanted to be here,” Ibarra said. “That’s what the game is about.”
Bobcat senior Bryahne Salinas snapped off a pair of kills during a 7-0 run in the first set. Edinburg High led 18-15 at one point before the Raiders came back for a three-point victory. Avelar-Guerra said winning that initial set bolstered her team’s confidence.
“That was a really tough game,” she said. “Both teams were playing hard and, yes, it was very important because it built momentum.”
Bobcats head coach Deanna Dominguez felt if Edinburg High had won the first set, the match may have gone in a whole other direction.
“Volleyball is all about momentum,” she said. “We had a lot of hope on that first set because we were up … and then we let them come back. We sputtered a little bit.”
Junior Kristen Salinas had 12 digs and 14 assists for the Bobcats. Junior Hannah Vega contributed 23 digs, while senior Celeste Del Villar added six kills and junior Zarina Rodriguez blocked five shots.
The Raiders led 9-7 in the second set before they went on a 12-4 run for a 21-11 lead. Junior Christina Garza fired off a kill shot to end the second game.
During the third set, Rivera jumped out to a 13-5 lead before the Bobcats climbed back into it, cutting the lead down to 15-12 before the Raiders closed it out with a 10-5 run. Olivares set up Laisha Izaguirre for a kill on the match winner.
Dominguez put her season into perspective.
“Upon reflection, I’m very proud of where we ended up because there were times when things looked really challenging,” she said. “They’re coachable kids and they really embraced whatever we asked them to do (this year).”
The Bobcats will graduate three seniors as they look ahead to next season.