By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial remained undefeated in the District 32-5A volleyball race with a 25-17, 25-18, 25-21 victory at home Tuesday against Edcouch-Elsa.
The 32-5A-leading Lady Chargers improved to 10-0 in district play and E-E remains in second place at 7-3.
“The girls have been practicing hard and everything seems to be working for us right now,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “Our defense with our offense is working well. There were a few bad passes here and there tonight, but overall, things went pretty well.
“I feel the girls really want it,” Mares added regarding the 32-5A title. “We’ve never won district by ourselves. We’ve always been co-champions. And we’ve never won it with an undefeated record. So now, our girls are hungry for that. I don’t really have to do much to motivate them. They’re motivating themselves (to win 32-5A with a 14-0 record).”
E-E never led in either of the first two games Tuesday as the Lady Chargers surged to early advantages of 5-1 in both sets en route to winning by somewhat comfortable margins.
The defending 32-5A champion Lady Yellowjackets went up by as many as three points three times early in the third game.
The last time was 8-5 before the Lady Chargers rallied and went in front for good after the score was tied at nine.
The Lady Chargers’ Victoria Huerta won the final two points of the third game on a kill and then a tip as Brownsville Veterans pulled away to take the third game 25-21 and sweep the match.
Then the two teams played during the first round of district in Edcouch on Sept. 17, the Lady Chargers prevailed 25-21, 27-25, 23-25, 29-27.
“I know we can play better and more consistent,” veteran E-E coach Ofelia Griffith said. “That’s been something that we’ve struggled with this season because I think we have a very strong program if you look at our history. We’ve been up there (winning district) seven of the last eight years.
“We do have a good program with talented girls and that’s why it makes it a little more frustrating to have a match like this,” she added. “It comes down to communication — talking to each other and being more consistent. We can play well, we’ve just got to do it regularly. There are matches that we do and there are some like this one tonight when we don’t.”
Sparking the Lady Chargers with eight kills each were Bridget Himes, Rebecca Cardenas and Victoria Huerta. Himes had two blocks and Cardenas one.
Teammates Cynthia Garcia and Cassie Valdez added seven and six kills, respectively. Valdez also had 24 assists and 17 digs.
Also for the Lady Chargers, Paola Villarreal had 43 digs, Mariann Villarreal had 23 digs and Kasandra Jimenez had 15 digs.