By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — Hanna and PSJA Southwest each emerged from pool play with 3-0 records during Thursday’s opening-round action at the seventh annual Volley at the Beach Tournament.
The three-day, 12-team tournament runs through Saturday. Pool play was staged in two four-team groups Thursday at Port Isabel’s main and practice gyms.
A third group of four teams will compete in pool-play matches beginning at 10 a.m. today at Port Isabel’s main gym.
When asked about his team’s 3-0 showing, Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said the Lady Golden Eagles faced some strong competition.
“We definitely had to work for it today,” he said. “We started slow again and dropped a set against Weslaco East (after our win over La Feria), and then Lopez gave us some great competition, too.
“The pools seemed to be pretty even,” he added. “We’ve got some work ahead of us (to finish well in the tournament).”
Hanna opened the day with a 25-19, 25-22 victory over La Feria and then prevailed against Weslaco East 23-25, 25-19, 15-6. In the final match of the day, Hanna held off Lopez 25-18, 26-24.
The Lady Eagles and all the other teams that played Thursday are off today and return Saturday for tournament bracket play. Hanna figures to receive one of the top seeds for bracket play along with PSJA Southwest.
The Lady Javelinas opened the day with a 25-19, 25-9 triumph over Monte Alto before defeating Santa Rosa 25-19, 25-22 and Progreso 25-10, 25-18.
“I’m very happy with the way our girls played,” PSJA Southwest coach Jaclyn Olvera said. “We still have a lot of things we need to work on, though. Our District (31-6A) is pretty tough, so we still have to improve a lot. But it’s better now than in years past, I would say.
“We’re trying to run plays and do some different things that we haven’t done before offensively,” she added. “We’re working hard on that.”
After PSJA Southwest, Santa Rosa had the second-best finish in its pool in the main gym, going 2-1. Apart from losing to the Lady Javelinas, the Lady Warriors defeated Progreso 25-16, 25-23 and downed Monte Alto 24-26, 25-19, 15-9.
On Thursday’s other pool-play group in the practice gym, La Feria went 2-1 to take second place behind Hanna. Aside for its loss to the Lady Eagles, La Feria captured three-set triumphs over Lopez 19-25, 25-13, 15-13 and against Weslaco East 25-20, 17-25, 15-12.
Six pool-play matches are on tap today in Port Isabel’s main gym involving host Port Isabel, Corpus Christi Carroll, West Oso and Rio Hondo.
The tournament championship is scheduled at 5 p.m. Saturday.