ROY HESS | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — Thanks to a strong finish, the Harlingen South Lady Hawks prevailed over the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers 25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-23 in non-district volleyball action Saturday at the Brownsville Veterans gym.
It was a good test for each team prior to district.
District 32-5A starts next Saturday for Brownsville Veterans (16-7). District 32-6A begins for South (18-3) on Sept. 21.
Lady Hawks coach Anissa Lucio said it was beneficial for her players to face the challenge the Lady Chargers presented during the non-district match, especially with 32-6A competition coming up in two weeks.
“It was a tough match, but our girls pulled through,” Lucio said. “We found a way to fight our way through the match, so I’m proud of our girls for finishing strong.
“Brownsville Veterans is a good team,” Lucio added. “We have a tough non-conference schedule with some tough non-district matches. This was one of them. I’m just glad we pulled through and answered back to a strong team.”
Even though Brownsville Veterans coach Elizabeth Mares was pleased with some of her team’s performance against the Lady Hawks, she said the Lady Chargers could have done better in other areas.
“I told the girls that I was glad we went through a match like this one,” Mares said. “South did a good job playing defense, but we made too many errors on our behalf. I felt we kind of beat ourselves because of all the errors on our side. Of course, I give credit to Harlingen South for playing their game.
“I thought we did a good job of adjusting on defense,” Mares added. “My offense just didn’t come around, though. I felt we lacked mental toughness today. That’s something we definitely need to work on.
“It’s good we have three tough (non-district) matches right before district starts. We played PSJA High (and won) last Tuesday, then we had South today, and now we go against Rivera on Tuesday. Those are three tough matches in a row. It really shows us what we need to work on going into district.”
The Lady Hawks quickly realized they had a strong challenge to overcome against the Lady Chargers. During the first game, South fell behind by as many as eight points twice, 14-6 and 15-7, before rallying to take the opening set 25-21 when Brownsville Veterans hit into the net.
It was the Lady Chargers’ turn to win a close set during the second game. Brownsville Veterans didn’t squander its eight-point advantage of 22-14 on an ace by Rebekah Rodriguez. Brownsville Veterans took the second game 25-23 on a hit by South that went out.
The Lady Hawks responded by never trailing and winning the third game handily, 25-15.
The fourth set was closely contested with ties at 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 21 and 22. A hitting miscue by the Lady Chargers carried out to put South ahead 23-22, and the Lady Hawks never trailed afterward.
The teams traded points on self-inflicted hitting errors to make it 24-23 for South. From there, a strong hit by South’s Mikela Mireles carried off a Brownsville Veterans player and went out, allowing the Lady Hawks to take the fourth game 25-23 and win the match.
It was another strong performance by Mireles, who had a team-high 27 kills along with 33 digs. Also for South, other standouts were Mya Pearl Aguirre (20 kills, 22 digs, 20 assists), Alexa Encinia (24 assists, 26 digs), Korynne Reininger (three kills, five digs), Allyah Guevara (3 kills, 23 digs), Zoe Garcia (51 digs) and Evelyn Yanez (59 digs).
For Brownsville Veterans, the stat leaders were Dominique Mena (19 kills, two aces, 43 digs), Alex Parchmont (47 digs), Monica Garcia (11 kills), Daniela Espinosa (21 assists, 13 digs) and Rodriguez (15 assists, 23 digs).
Non-district action continues Tuesday for both teams. Brownsville Veterans plays host to Rivera, and South is at home against McAllen Rowe.