By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Hanna Lady Eagles rallied but did not hold off the Edinburg High Lady Bobcats, losing 25-20, 25-12, 16-25, 27-25 in the bi-district round Tuesday at Hanna.
With a packed house cheering every point, Hanna — which was down 0-2 — made a feverous comeback to take Game 3. The Eagles held a slim 16-15 lead, receiving kills from Pam Ellis, Flora Herrera, Sausha Brown and Alicia Chavez down the stretch to finish on a 9-1 run.
“I think even though we let up in the second game, usually teams let up in the third game, and this is when we tried to attack and do our best,” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “I told the kids we still have a chance if we beat them in this set and they did. I don’t know if Edinburg(High) was too comfortable or what.”
Hanna took back the momentum after several Edinburg High miscues in Game 3.
“Our girls wanted to secure that win so badly in Game 3, I think they were just trying too hard,” Edinburg High coach Deanna Dominguez said. “When things weren’t bouncing the way they should have, they got a little frustrated.”
The Lady Eagles carried the momentum into Game 4 and took a 13-5 lead. Edinburg High rallied on strong serves from Dezi Marmolejo and timely kills by Marissa Arce. Hanna led 20-17 after a kill by Herrera, but the Lady Bobcats received a kill from Samantha Serna followed by three straight from Arce to take a 21-20 advantage.
The squads matched each other point-for-point until they were tied at 25. The Lady Bobcats took advantage of hitting errors by the Lady Eagles to win the final two points of the game and win the match 3-1.
Dominguez provided the words of wisdom for her team when they needed it most.
“I just told them they worked all season and it would be a shame to let it go because we are having miscommunication errors, not because we couldn’t do the job,” she said. “Our mental game couldn’t let us down. I told them they can’t put the hurdles in front of us, we have to push forward and makes things happen on our side.”
Hanna started Game 1 slow but rallied to get within two points at 21-19 after a kill by Ellis. The Lady Bobcats withstood the rally and took it 25-20. The Lady Eagles failed to get anything going in Game 2, and several unforced errors led to Edinburg High to take it easily 25-12.
Ellis led the Lady Eagles with 10 kills and four blocks, Herrera had eight kills and two blocks, Bianca Olivares had 13 assists, Gianna Muniz had 12 assists and 15 digs and Julie Soto had 20 digs for Hanna.
Dominguez was happy to leave with the win in an intense road matchup with the Lady Eagles.
“We kind of fell apart in Game 3 and (Hanna’s) momentum carried over in Game 4, but we were able to move past that,” she said. “(The team) was able to pull through, so I’m very pleased.”
Arce and Serna led the Lady Bobcats with 14 kills apiece, Marmolejo had 18 assists and six aces, and Yessi Molina had eight assists and 12 digs for Edinburg High.
Hagemann said the Lady Eagles failed to overcome their errors.
“Edinburghad a strong comeback, basically matching (us) point by point,” he said. “It came down to errors. Passes too close to the net, a missed set, and we started hitting too softly toward the end of the game, and so it was easier to pick up.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.