DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — When they’re not playing sports, students from Harlingen High and Harlingen South are often good friends.
But once they meet on the athletic fields or gymnasium courts, well… Suddenly, it’s a heated rivalry.
Records go out the window and pride is on the line as each team wants to prove it’s better than the other, and rule the Harlingen sports world.
On Saturday afternoon, it was the Harlingen Lady Cardinals who ruled the roost as they beat the Lady Hawks 28-26, 19-25, 25-11, 25-22 on South’s home court.
With the win, the Lady Cards improved to 2-5 in District 32-6A and picked up their second win in a row. Meanwhile, the Lady Hawks’ slide continued as they dropped their fifth straight match to fall to 1-6 in league play.
“This was a huge win for us,” said Lady Cardinals head coach Jennifer Martinez. “We’ve been in a slump and are at the bottom of our district, but we know that this win can carry us in the remainder of district.
“We know that we have the potential to do great things and I think this win will help us believe in ourselves going forward.”
The energy in South’s gym was palpable from the start as the near-sold out crowd loudly cheered for both teams.
The Lady Hawks opened the match on fire and raced out to a 13-6 Game 1 lead. But the Lady Cards battled back and behind some hard-hitting kills by Yazmine Martinez and Addison Dickey tied the set at 15-15.
The remainder of the first game was a seesaw battle as the two teams traded leads seven times until the Lady Cards finally took it 28-26.
Despite dropping the opening set, the Lady Hawks refocused and won the second game 25-19 to tie the match at 1-1.
But the momentum did not carry over for the Lady Hawks in Game 3 as they seemed to fade. The Lady Cards rushed out to a 10-6 advantage and although the Lady Hawks tried to rally, they couldn’t find their rhythm as the Lady Cards cruised to the 25-11 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
With victory in their sights, the Lady Cardinals came out in Game 4 ready to close things out. And while the Lady Hawks did show some spirit as they tried to force a fifth set, Harlingen stayed focused and got the win 25-22 to win the match.
“It was a challenge to keep the girls calm after winning Game 4,” said Martinez. “A lot of them were smiling and already celebrating, but I told them to keep playing hard because South is a good team and we didn’t want to have them come back and force a fifth game, especially with them being at home.”
Up next for the Lady Cards is an away match against Brownsville Rivera on Tuesday while the Lady Hawks host Brownsville Veterans, also on Tuesday.
The two rivals face off again in the final match of the season on Oct. 27 at Harlingen High.