By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Hanna volleyball team was looking for something positive to happen after last week.
“We had a week from hell,” Lady Eagles coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “We got defeated by Los Fresnos and San Benito, and then we lost one of our players due to an ACL injury, so it wasn’t a good week at all. It all came in one week, so it was a little bit much.”
Things went better for the Lady Eagles Tuesday as they captured a 25-12, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13 District 32-6A victory at home against the Harlingen High Lady Cardinals.
The win leaves Hanna in a tie for second place in 32-6A with Rivera and San Benito, all with 4-2 records.
Los Fresnos leads the district at 5-0 after a 21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-18 win at home against Rivera Tuesday. Also, San Benito defeated Weslaco High 25-10, 25-23, 25-16.
“Hanna played better than we did today,” Lady Cardinals coach Jennifer Martinez said. “We just didn’t show up. They deserved the victory. They fought all the way through and we fell short.”
Harlingen High next plays Saturday at home against San Benito while Hanna goes to Weslaco East the same day as 32-6A action continues.
Things looked very good for Hanna in the opening game as the Lady Eagles surged out to a 21-5 advantage en route to taking the first set 25-12.
The Lady Eagles were sparked in the opening game by their serving as Xitlali Montes de Oca served three aces, Ryan Wood two and Laure Webb one in helping Hanna to its 21-5 advantage.
Yazmine Martinez was a standout hitter for the Lady Cardinals (3-3), who led 20-18 and outscored Hanna 5-2 down the stretch in the second game to prevail 25-20.
But the Lady Eagles regained their momentum in the third and fourth games to win 25-18 and 25-13 to take the match.
“We were excited about the match tonight,” Hagemann said. “We knew it was going to be important. Right now we’ve got four wins (in the first half of district), so we’re in good shape in the playoff race, but we’re nowhere near the finish.
“Harlingen has a good team with some good hitters and they have a very good defense,” he added. “They picked up many of our hits. Congrats to their defense because they made it a struggle for us. But I think our girls performed very well tonight, and I’m happy that they won and with the way they played.”