ALICE — During a timeout after the McAllen High girls volleyball team returned to the court, Celina Saenz looked at teammate Haidee Moore and expressed how tired she was.
“I told her I was ready to pass out,” Saenz said.
The sentiment was probably the same across both sides of the court as McHi defeated Corpus Christi Veterans in a thrilling and exhausting five-setter 26-24, 25-8, 25-27, 23-25, 15-19 in the Class 5A area round of the playoffs Tuesday at Alice High School.
The match was an exhibition of two teams that refused to lose, attacking, defending and several times defying what should have been a rally-ending play only to watch as bodies dove, sprawled and just dropped to defy to ball of gravity’s pull and keep the play alive.
Saenz was a perfect study case of refusing to let exhaustion set in. The senior outside hitter was more aggressive and active during the match’s final two sets, collecting 13 of her 22 kills in those sets, five coming in the final set that goes only to 15.
“I don’t like to lose to teams we can beat,” Saenz said after the match.
McHi will face McAllen Memorial in the regional quarterfinals, after playing two other times during the regular season and splitting those matches. Memorial swept Gregory-Portland on Tuesday in McAllen. The stakes this time around the Bulldogs and Mustangs, with the winner advancing to the Class 5A “Sweet 16.” Last year, both teams advanced to the Class 6A “Sweet 16.”
“Isn’t this fun?” McHi head coach Paula Dodge joked after the two-hour, 15-minute match in which the first two sets, both won by McHi, took approximately 40 minutes combined.
McHi played possibly its best set of the season during the second set, getting a team effort — and a set-stifling service clinic from sophomore Aleah Saenz.
Trailing 5-4 during the second set, Aleah Saenz served eight straight points for a 12-5 McHi advantage that included four of her game-high five aces, a block and tip for a point from Madison Helmcamp and a jump ball at the net won by Miranda Quintanilla. Corpus Christi Veterans never picked up any momentum as Ollie Tite and Haidee Moore owned the net offensively with attacks and defensively with blocks.
“In the second set, I felt like we were working together better than we have all season,” Celina Saenz said. “Everybody was in play and focused.”
After a quick second set, Corpus Christi Veterans regrouped. The combination of aggressive serves from McHi and sloppy serve receiving from the Eagles led to the two-set deficit. However, Ashlyn Hill and Sierra Jackson led an attack over the second to sets to force the deciding set.
“We made a lot of errors in those two sets but they came alive in the fifth,” Dodge said. “You get to a fifth set and a lot has to do with conditioning. Will your conditioning pay off? There were a lot of long rallies today where it could’ve gone either way but these girls stepped up.”
Following Celina Saenz with 22 kills was Tite with 14 and Moore with 13. Moore also was tough at the net with four blocks. Helmcamp had a big day all around with 49 assists, 15 digs, two kills, two blocks and an ace. Libero Audrey Zamora was stout defensively with 37 digs.
Information for the McHi-Memorial matchup was not immediately available. Though McHi and Memorial split their head-to-head matchups during the regular season, McHi ultimately forfeited that match, and three others, for using an ineligible player.
“We’re excited to play them again,” Celina Saenz said. “We’re tied, so this will be the tiebreaker.”