Saturday’s District 32-6A volleyball victory at Harlingen South did wonders for the Rivera Lady Raiders.
The Lady Raiders knew they had just defeated one of the top 32-6A teams on its home court when they prevailed 25-16, 20-25, 25-15, 25-22 over the Lady Hawks.
The win gave Rivera a 2-1 record in district and allowed the Lady Raiders to stay within striking distance of 32-6A leader Los Fresnos (3-0).
“I think this win gives us more of a boost going into the next match,” said Rivera sophomore middle hitter Kenya Ibarra, the Lady Raiders’ leader in kills. “With more confidence, with more teamwork and with our coaches telling us we can do it, it’s a boost. We proved to ourselves that we can do it, so we’re going to keep going.
“Our team has come a long way since the beginning of the season in teamwork, bonding, coaching and every aspect of this game,” Ibarra added. “We don’t consider ourselves a young team any more. We’re growing. It’s the whole team working together.”
Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra, the Lady Raiders’ coach, sees the improvement as well.
“It gives us a lot of confidence for our girls to know they can come over here (to South) and beat this team,” Avelar-Guerra said. “South is a really good team. They can hit, they can defend, they can communicate. For my girls to come in here, play hard, stay with them and win, I’m really proud of them.
“They really had to step up, and they did what they had to do,” the Lady Raiders coach added. “It was a great job by our girls, but I told them there’s no time to rest because everybody in this district is going to be tough. I told them if they let their guard down, or have a bad day or whatever, it’s going to hurt us, so we have to be ready to play every single time.
“I’m just really proud of these girls.”
The Lady Raiders continue 32-6A action at 6:30 p.m. today at San Benito.
The complete 32-6A standings have Los Fresnos at 3-0, Rivera and Harlingen High at 2-1, South and Hanna at 1-2, and San Benito at 0-3.
Also at 6:30 p.m. today, it’s South at Harlingen High for the “Bird Bowl” and Los Fresnos at Hanna.
After today’s district action, 32-6A teams have an open date Saturday.
32-5A UPDATE
Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Edcouch-Elsa share the District 32-5A lead with 5-0 records. Donna High holds sole possession of third place at 3-2. Brownsville Porter, Mercedes and Brownsville Pace are all 2-3, Brownsville Lopez is 1-4, and Valley View is 0-5.
The 32-5A schedule at 7 p.m. today has Lopez at Brownsville Veterans, E-E at Porter, Donna High at Mercedes and Pace at Valley View.
Brownsville Veterans plays at E-E at 4 p.m. Saturday for a 32-5A showdown.
RANKINGS WATCH
Several Rio Grande Valley volleyball teams continue to be state-ranked this week by the Texas Girls Coaching Association.
In Class 6A, McAllen High (33-2) has dropped from No. 3 to No. 10 after losing to McAllen Memorial last week and surrendering the lead in District 30-6A. Los Fresnos made it back in the 6A rankings at No. 25 last week, but has since dropped out again this week.
Three Valley teams are listed in the Class 5A rankings. They are No. 7 Mission Veterans Memorial (31-5), No. 15 E-E (24-7) and No. 23 Brownsville Veterans (21-7).
San Isidro, listed at No. 21 in the Class 1A-2A poll last week, is no longer in the rankings.
SOME NOTES
Jubilee Brownsville has completed the first round of District 32-3A play with a 9-0 record, winning each district match in straight sets … The Pace Lady Vikings pulled off a rare feat Saturday by winning all of their matches at Mercedes. Winning matches were the Pace varsity, junior varsity dark, JV light and freshmen teams … St. Joseph Academy plays at home twice this week. The Lady Bloodhounds play host to TAPPS defending state champion Victoria St. Joseph at 5:30 p.m. today and then play host to Corpus Christi Incarnate Word Academy at 3 p.m. Saturday.
EAST VALLEY TOP 5
1. Los Fresnos
2. Brownsville Rivera
3. Harlingen South
4. Brownsville Veterans Memorial
5. Harlingen High