By Roy Hess | The Brownsville Herald
PORT ISABEL— Hanna and PSJA Southwest were big winners during Thursday’s opening day of the eighth annual Volley at the Beach Tournament.
Port Isabel is the host of the 13-team, three-day volleyball event.
Hanna won Pool 2 with a 3-0 record, while PSJA Southwest captured Pool 1 with a 3-0 mark as well.
The Lady Golden Eagles, defending champions of the event, posted victories Thursday against Lopez (28-26, 27-25), Weslaco East (25-14, 25-22) and Rio Hondo (25-10, 25-11).
The clean sweep earned Hanna a berth as one of eight teams in Saturday’s Gold Division bracket-play quarterfinals.
“Our girls were very consistent. They played clean and not sloppy,” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “The girls were present on the court and I really enjoyed seeing that.
“Lopez has picked up a lot (and gave us quite a tough match),” Hagemann added. “They’ve got some great hitters. They keep on improving from the first time we played
them (earlier this season and won).
“We also had 15 unforced errors in the first game (against Lopez), and that’s just too many for a team to commit.”
Also in Pool 2, Weslaco East went 2-1, Lopez 1-2 and Rio Hondo 0-3. Weslaco East is also expected to qualify for Saturday’s Gold Division quarterfinals beginning at 9 a.m.
The tournament continues at 9 a.m. today with competition in Pool 3 between Los Fresnos, Corpus Christi Carroll, St. Joseph Academy, La Feria and Monte Alto.
Meanwhile, in Pool 1 on Thursday, PSJA Southwest recorded its three victories against Port Isabel (25-18, 25-13), Santa Rosa (17-25, 25-11, 16-14) and Progreso (25-12, 25-15).
PSJA Southwest reached the tournament final a year ago and came up short against Hanna 21-25, 25-16, 15-10.
The Lady Javelinas faced their toughest match Thursday against Santa Rosa, which jumped out to a 10-3 edge in the opening game and went on to win 25-17. PSJA Southwest regained its composure and took the second game easily 25-11.
There were five ties in the third game between the Lady Warriors and Lady Javelinas — the final deadlock at 14-14 — before PSJA Southwest tallied the final two points of the match.
Santa Rosa ended up in second place in Pool 1 with a 2-1 record and is expected to advance to Saturday’s Gold Division bracket play. Also in Pool 1, Port Isabel finished 1-2 and Progreso went 0-3.
The Lady Tarpons played some close matches. After losing to PSJA Southwest 25-18, 25-13, they prevailed over Progreso 19-25, 26-24, 15-5 before falling to Santa Rosa 25-22, 25-27, 15-9.
“We’ve been talking to our girls about keeping themselves up and staying in the match,” Lady Tarpons coach Julie Breedlove said. “Sometimes, they tend to want to fall down (and slip out of the match when the other team goes on a run).
“It’s a mental thing,” Breedlove added. “It’s something we’ve been working on, and I won’t lie, that win (over Progreso) felt very good. We needed it. It will help with our confidence.
“The girls just pushed through to get that win, and it’s what we needed so they can know everything we’ve been working on is worth it.”