MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — With district a week away, McAllen Rowe’s opportunities to fine-tune things are becoming slimmer, which is why Saturday’s 25-15, 25-22, 25-18 victory over Brownsville Veterans Memorial served as a valuable teaching moment.
If they intend to go far this year, the Lady Warriors will have to rely on three basic principles: communication, momentum-building and teamwork.
Rowe put it all together Saturday to improve to 24-3, despite a brief scare in Game 2 that nearly threatened their sweep.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the team,” Rowe’s Sophia Luna said after recording 16 kills and four blocks. “It’s all finally starting to come together. We’re all jelling. We’re all connecting. And it feels good.”
The Lady Warriors were dominant through the second game, when Brownsville Veterans (18-9) jumped out to a 9-1 lead before coach Magda Canales called for time. The Lady Chargers forged ahead, holding a slight cushion until Rowe tied at 20 and took a one-point lead after back-to-back errors by Brownsville Veterans, including a ball hitting the net and another going out of bounds.
On the next possession, Vanessa Lopez’s two-handed dump gave Rowe a 22-20 edge as the Lady Chargers called a timeout and Canales met Lopez for a high-five.
“I think we just came together as a team, you know, talking with each other the whole time,” Rowe’s Mayda Garcia said. “We’d move onto the next point whenever we made a mistake, keeping our enthusiasm up and making sure we weren’t out of it.
“(Brownsville Veterans) came back harder. They came back with revenge, wanting to come back at us. I’m sure they were mad they lost the first game. It did throw us off a little bit but we snapped back a little. We were, ‘Hey, we got to make the next point,’ and we never gave up. We kept fighting until we finished the game.”
Rowe never trailed again, racing out to a 9-3 lead after a Brownsville Veterans serving error.
“Our passing wasn’t there. Our defense wasn’t there. They basically outplayed us,” Lady Chargers coach Elizabeth Mares said. “We weren’t ready.”
Garcia posted a game-high 18 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Lopez added 22 assists, 20 digs and four blocks. And Deanna Spear contributed 19 assists, 15 digs and two kills.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Canales said. “Defensively, that’s priority No. 1. … But the kids have been working really hard and they’re coming along. That’s what’s making the difference.”
Brownsville Veterans’ Sarah Sandoval had a team-high nine kills and 16 digs. Teammate Clarissa Chavez added 14 assists. Megan Sanchez had six kills. And Krista Lopez chipped in with 17 digs.
“I guess the positive out of this is, it’s still not district and hopefully they’ll learn from this,” Mares said. “Not every team is going to play the same. We have to switch our defense. ‘You guys need to listen and adjust.’ Basically, I felt like we didn’t adjust to this team. I just didn’t think they were ready to play.”