By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
FALFURRIAS —Brownsville Jubilee’s memorable volleyball season came to end against a veteran playoff opponent on Tuesday in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals.
The District 31-3A champion Corpus Christi London Lady Pirates defeated District 32-3A champion Jubilee 25-23, 25-23, 25-12 at Falfurrias.
London already has been to the Region IV-3A Tournament eight straight years, and thanks to Tuesday’s win, the Lady Pirates are going back. It starts Friday in San Antonio, where London is expected to face Poth or Industrial in the regional semifinals.
This is Jubilee’s first school year to play in UIL. The Lady Titans knew they were going up against a team with plenty of playoff experience in London.
“I told the girls coming into the match we were probably going to be the underdogs,” Jubilee coach Rebekah Perez said. “London has a very good team, but I thought our girls played very well, too. I’m proud of them for the season they had.”
The Lady Titans finished 32-5 on the year and won 32-3A with an 18-0 mark — not too bad for their first UIL outing. Only two seniors are graduating for the Lady Titans, who previously competed in a charter school league.
The Lady Pirates were led by Ashley Lynn, a 6-foot middle blocker/power hitter.
“This was a great win for us,” Lynn said. “We’re used to going to the regional tournament.”
The Lady Titans stayed with the Lady Pirates during the first two games and even led a couple times, but it was clearly London’s night as it earned a return trip to the 3A regional tournament.
During the opening set, London surged to an 8-1 advatage before the Lady Titans battled back to create five ties, the last of them at 19. From there, Jubilee stayed within one point of London until the Lady Pirates’ Kara Bucy hit a cross-court kill to win the first game 25-23.
There were 14 ties during the second set with Jubilee even taking a 13-10 lead at one point on a ball hit long by the Lady Pirates. But London rallied and went past the final tie of the set at 20 that happened on a ball hit into the net by the Lady Titans.
Jubilee hit the ball out of bounds on two of the last three points of the second set to give London a repeat 25-23 win.
The Lady Titans committed too many hitting mistakes early during the third game and couldn’t recover. They fell behind 15-6, 18-9 and 21-11 before a ball hit hard by Lynn was blocked out by a Jubilee player to give the Lady Pirates a 25-12 third-set victory and the match.
Stat leaders for Jubilee included Fernanda Bannak (eight assists, one ace), Valentina Tijerina (five kills), Daniela Bannak (five kills), Julissa Garza (14 assists) and Jazmine Gracia, Paola Vargas and Alexis Robinson (two blocks each).