By ROY HESS |Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — There will be better days ahead than Saturday for the Harlingen South Lady Hawks in volleyball.
Conversely, “feel-good” wins don’t come much better for the Brownsville Rivera Lady Raiders.
Saturday’s District 32-6A match to see which team would remain with only one loss in conference play was won by the Lady Raiders 25-16, 20-25, 25-15, 25-22 at the South gym.
Rivera, coming off Tuesday’s disappointing three-game loss at home to 32-6A leader Los Fresnos (3-0), improved to 2-1 in district. South slipped to 1-2, having also lost to the Lady Falcons.
“ We came into this match, all of us together, with the mindset that if we all worked together, we could pull through,” said Kenya Ibarra, Rivera’s sophomore middle hitter and leader in kills. “It’s all about teamwork, and all of us were happy (to be winning) and cheering each other on.
“ If someone made a mistake, we lifted them up,” Ibarra added. “We all played together, and we pulled through (for the victory).”
Each of the teams played solid defensively, and for the most part, handled the opponent’s most powerful hits. It created some long, back-and-forth volleys.
But in the end, the Lady Raiders played just a little more consistently than the Lady Hawks, who didn’t foresee themselves with a 1-2 district record at this point so early in the 32-6A race.
But it’s happened, and all they can do now is try to get back into the win column when they next play Harlingen High (2-1) in a “Bird Bowl” matchup volleyball-style at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Lady Cardinals’ court.
For the Lady Raiders, winning Saturday’s opening set 25-16 was huge. It allowed Rivera to weather the storm when the Lady Hawks prevailed 25-20 during the second game to even the match at 1 set apiece.
“ I’m really excited (about this win) because we had a tough match against Los Fresnos,” said Lady Raiders coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra, whose team next plays at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at San Benito. “The girls started pretty good (against Los Fresnos) and then they just fell apart. They stepped up really well and played good today.
“ (Before this South match) we had a little talk about communicating, playing together and being there for each other,” Avelar-Guerra added. “I told them to just forget about what happened (against Los Fresnos), and the girls really stepped up and played hard, each and every one of them. Even when I had to get after them, they would step up again.
“ They stayed in the match the whole way through, so I’m really proud of all of them.”
As it is with just about every match tied at 1, the third game becomes crucial. So it was Saturday.
After five ties in the third game — the final one at 9 — the Lady Raiders went up for good during the set at 10-9 when a Rivera hit somehow went off the South side of the net and fell to the floor.
The Lady Raiders were up by nine points, 18-9, on a serving ace by Alondra Guzman before leading by 10 points, 24-14 and 25-15, thanks to a powerful kill by Ibarra that ended the third game.
After a tie at 8, the Lady Raiders went ahead for good during the fourth set, 9-8, on a hit by South that landed out of bounds. The Lady Hawks stayed within striking distance of the lead the rest of the way before a strong hit by Ibarra went off a South player and carried out to give the Lady Raiders a 25-22 victory in the fourth game that clinched the match.
Stat leaders for the Lady Raiders included Ibarra (25 kills, 10 digs), Clarissa Olivares (47 assists, 13 digs), Guzman (three aces, nine kills, 18 digs), Christina Garza (12 kills, 10 digs, one ace), Richelle Guzman (58 digs, one ace) and Laisha Izaguirre (seven kills, five digs).
Stats for South were not immediately available.