By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Rivera Lady Raiders and Hanna Lady Golden Eagles are two pretty evenly matched volleyball teams this season.
That fact was evident in Tuesday’s back-and-forth, five-game District 32-6A match at the Rivera gym.
Thanks to a late surge in the fourth and fifth games by Rivera, the Lady Raiders came away with a 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10 victory to take over sole possession of second place in 32-6A with a 6-2 record.
Los Fresnos, a 25-20, 25-20, 25-22 winner against San Benito, also Tuesday, leads 32-6A with an 8-0 record. Hanna is now in a two-way tie for third place in the district with Harlingen High at 5-3.
It was the opening night for the second half of district action in 32-6A.
Rivera lost at Hanna 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 when the two teams played in the first round of district on Sept. 10.
“I had told our girls, ‘You’re a better team than what you showed (the last time we played Hanna), so get out there and show them what you really play like,’” Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. “Sometimes, they seem to have a fear of Hanna, and I say, ‘What’s this fear for? We’re a good team, too. You’re a better team than you showed before. Get out there and play hard.’ I told them, ‘If you play hard, you can win this match.’”
Rivera surged to a 20-12 advantage in the fourth game en route to winning 25-20 and led the entire way during the fifth game. The match point came on a kill by Victoria Zuniga to make it 15-10 in the final set.
After Hanna took the third game 25-21 to go up 2-1 in the match, Avelar-Guerra challenged her players.
“I asked them after the third game, ‘Why are you playing like this?’” she said. “I actually said to them, ‘OK, I guess you all want third place (in district by losing this match). That’s the way it looks by the way you’re playing. You seem scared to get the win.’ I think that kind of woke them up and we started coming back (and playing better in the final two games).”
The Lady Raiders were sparked by four players with double-digit kills. They were Zuniga (19 kills), Stephanie Garza (18), Litzy Medina (13) and Myra Martinez (12). Garza also had 19 digs while Medina also had four aces and three digs.
Also for Rivera, Kourtney Shears had 31 assists, 19 digs and five kills, while Lilian Vera had 33 assists, 11 digs and one ace. Maddie Blanco contributed 23 digs.
Laure Webb and Ryan Wood led Hanna with nine and eight kills, respectively. Wood had three blocks and Webb two.
Halle Penrod contributed six kills and Xitali Montes de Oca added four kills and one ace. Also for Hanna, Nataly Davila had five blocks and three kills, while Elyani Perez had 16 assists. The Hanna libero, Melina Morales, had 17 digs.
“It was a pretty even match,” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “We kind of let it slip away from us in the fourth game when we had a big lead (of 7-1). We got a little careless and the Lady Raiders had a strong comeback. They were very determined to beat us tonight.
“Both teams were very motivated because this is a rivalry,” Hagemann added. “It’s always like that when we play each other. It gets pretty intense. There was a lot of back-and-forth play. Each team had a down time and the other team would capitalize on it. The last set is always a lottery. We came out lucky a lot of times in the match, but not at the end this time.”
District action continues Saturday as Hanna is at home against Weslaco High and Rivera travels to Harlingen High.