KRISTIAN LIMAS | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
MISSION — The McAllen Rowe Lady Warriors walked away from the Sharyland Invitational after beating Los Fresnos 25-15, 25-21 on Saturday in Mission, another indication of the team’s dominance in the area. It is Rowe’s second tournament win this season.
Mayda Garcia was named tournament MVP honors for the Lady Warriors and played a significant role in the victory, sending home several spikes and making key saves.
Despite the great performance she was quick to deflect the praise to her teammates.
“My teammates really came through for me today, I can’t say that it was all me,” Garcia said. “It was my teammates starting with the pass, to the set and them having faith in me that I’m going to put it away so I thank them for believing in me.”
Rowe made a statement in the first set, going on a 6-0 run before Los Fresnos could answer. Midway through the first set, the Lady Warriors led 11-4 and eventually won by 10 points.
While the first set was a near clinical performance for Rowe the second set was tougher. The Lady Falcons kept up with the Warriors through the first six points and forced Rowe into seven ties during the set.
Despite its tough play, Los Fresnos led only once in the second set at 20-19. The lead didn’t last long, though, as the Lady Warriors closed out the set on a 6-2 run for the victory.
Rowe coach Magda Canales was not surprised that the Falcons didn’t down without a fight.
“Oh, yes, Los Fresnos has always been ready to play us,” Canales said. “The key was that we came together as a team. With the loss of a setter and a back row player from last year, we’ve been trying to incorporate new players in and they’re young. Slowly after some 25 games that we have played so far we’re coming together.”
Garcia agreed, as the Warriors prepared for the rest of the season and district play the words of her coach were not lost on her.
“It is a lot of teamwork, you can’t play individual volleyball,” Garcia said. “When you do that that’s when everything starts to fall apart so we do focus a lot on teamwork.”