The first tournament of the 2017 volleyball season produced some solid results for Metro-area teams.
Still, they want to continue to get better.
Leading the way for Metro-area teams at the weekend’s Poundfest tournament in McAllen were the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons, who finished as consolation champions in the Gold Division on Saturday as the three-day event came to a close.
The District 32-6A defending champion Lady Falcons opened the day with a 25-18, 26-24 loss in the quarterfinals to Laredo Alexander, a team they defeated 25-20, 25-23 on Friday in pool play.
Los Fresnos rebounded to capture its next two matches to take the Gold Division consolation championship and improve to 9-1 on the season.
Later Saturday, the Lady Falcons triumphed over PSJA Memorial 25-18, 25-20 and Edinburg Vela 25-15, 25-10.
“They are just an amazing group of players,” Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said of her team. “We were very evenly balanced in hitting, blocking and every other aspect of the game. There’s a terrific attitude (on this team) and everyone wants to play, which makes it even harder to decide who does play because most of the players are so evenly matched.
“We are going to win a lot of matches this year if we can stay connected and focus on what we need to do to get the job done,” she added. “We are excited for this season.”
Brownsville Veterans Memorial, the District 32-5A defending champion, also played in the Gold Division, but suffered losses Saturday to McAllen Rowe 25-19, 25-15 and Vela 23-25, 25-22, 15-13.
“Our girls played well considering two of our starters are out,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “Then, during the Rowe match, my other setter went out with a concussion and we had to run a 5-1 (alignment) using my middle blocker Bridget Himes (as a setter).
“We got hit with a lot of adversity and the girls handled it very well,” Mares added.
Hanna and Rivera played in the tournament’s Silver Division on Saturday.
Hanna made it to the championship match by defeating Rivera 2-1 and Laredo Cigaroa 2-0. In the Silver Division title match, the Lady Golden Eagles were defeated in two games by Sharyland High.
After its loss to Hanna, Rivera rebounded to defeat PSJA High and PSJA North in two games apiece to capture the Silver Division consolation championship.
“For the first tournament, we played well, but we still have some work to do on being a bit more consistent,” Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said.
Also in the Poundfest tournament from the Metro area, Pace, Porter and Port Isabel played in the Bronze Division on Saturday.