By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
While not playing its best volleyball, Brownsville Veterans Memorial did just enough of the right things to win 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 in District 32-6A action Tuesday at Rivera.
“It wasn’t one of our prettier ones,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said of the victory that kept her team at the very least in a tie atop the 32-6A standings at 2-0. “One of the hard things (to do) is keeping that consistency going (and playing at a high level), and we weren’t playing very consistent tonight.
“I felt our height up front was definitely an advantage for us,” Mares added. “If we didn’t have that, it would have been a lot closer because Rivera is always a good team defensively, and they were picking up a lot of our hits. Our blocking (with our taller girls at the net) helped a lot because our hitting was not on point at all. We had 19 hitting errors, I believe.”
During the opening game, Brownsville Veterans led by as many as eight points twice, 15-7 and 16-8, before winning 25-20. The Lady Chargers were ahead by as many as 13 points, 22-9, in the second game before triumphing 25-16.
The Lady Raiders kept it close and even trailed only 20-18 before the Lady Chargers surged ahead to win the third game 25-20 on a kill by Himes that enabled Brownsville Veterans to sweep the match.
Himes led the Lady Chargers with eight kills and five blocks. Teammate Megan Sanchez added six kills and three blocks. Also for the Lady Chargers, Krista Lopez had 22 digs and two aces, and Cassandra Valdez contributed 22 assists and 12 digs.
For Rivera (1-1), Kourtney Shears finished with four kills and 10 assists, and Michelle Morales had seven kills and five assists. Also for the Lady Raiders, Jenny Cardenas and Darcy Cardenas finished with 25 digs and 10 digs, respectively, and teammate Valery Uresti had three kills.
“Our girls played pretty good. They played well,” said Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra, whose team is missing 5-foot-9 sophomore middle blocker Litsy Medina due to an injury. “We’re not too tall (at the net) right now, but we’re working hard and the girls are getting better.
“They’re not giving up, and I’m proud of them for that,” Avelar-Guerra added. “Even when they’re losing, they’re still playing hard and not giving up. We still have a lot of work to do, and I wish we had a little bit taller players, but we’ve got what we’ve got. The girls are working hard and trying their best.”
Brownsville Veterans next plays host to Hanna at noon Saturday in a battle of teams with 2-0 district records.