By Joshua McKinney, Staff Writer
Los Fresnos started its season on the right foot Monday.
The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons (1-0) swept the Sharyland High Lady Rattlers (1-0) 25-21, 25-12, 25-21 in the teams’ season opener at Los Fresnos.
Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods shuffled two different lineups in and out of the match, making win No. 1 a team-wide effort.
“I thought they played well,” Woods said. “I had two different teams out there on the court. I think that first team that started was a little nervous. That second team I put out there, they just went to town. I told the girls I was going to give them a challenge. I told them, ‘Whoever scores the most points is the team that gets to stay on the court this year.’ That’s what they’re working for.”
Jackie Kingsbury, a senior outside hitter/ middle hitter for Los Fresnos, played on both units and was all over the court for the Lady Falcons during the match, co-leading the team with eight kills and giving the team a strong net presence with three blocks. Returning to the court with her fellow Lady Falcons lit a spark under her in the game.
“Definitely playing with clubs and not playing with my girls is part of (why) I want to get back out there,” Kingsbury said. “I do the best that I can. The mentality is that you want to put the ball away as fast as you can and try not to let anything drop.”
Sharyland High stayed close during the first set and had the Lady Falcons within one point at 22-21 until the home side scored three straight points to end the set.
The teams were tied at 3 early in the second set, but a Sharyland High serve that went past the back line started a scoring run by Los Fresnos.
Kills by Kaitlan Mata, Giselle Ibarra and Kingsbury were a part of a four-point surge to give the Lady Falcons an 8-3 lead during the set, which was as close as the Lady Rattlers were for the rest of the second.
The Lady Rattlers stayed close to Los Fresnos for most of set No. 3, but Los Fresnos went on a 9-3 run to grab a comfortable lead and eventually won the set.
Ibarra co-led Los Fresnos with eight kills each. Mata had three blocks.
Sharyland High coach Raul Castillo thought his team brought an aggressive approach to the first and third sets, but ultimately mental mistakes made it difficult for the Lady Rattlers to keep up with Los Fresnos.
“I like the way they played the first and third game,” Castillo said. “The second game didn’t look good, but they came out and fought the first game and third game. Of course after that, they lost. But they came out and they didn’t give up. They didn’t collapse.”
Caleigh Hasenfluck lead Sharyland High with six kills. Melanie Lazos had three aces.
The Lady Falcons now have two days to get ready for the McAllen Poundfest running Thursday through Saturday, which features several teams from the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo.
“It feels wonderful to start 1-0,” Woods said. “You don’t ever want to start 0-1, 1-0 is great and you just have to build off of that.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.