By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
The volleyball season continues for the Mercedes Lady Tigers as they pursue a berth in the Class 5A state playoffs.
Mercedes, Pace and Lopez finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in District 32-5A with 6-8 records earlier this week, creating a “play-in” scenario for the three squads as only one could qualify for the postseason as 32-5A’s No. 4 seed.
In the first of two 32-5A “play-in” matches, Mercedes prevailed over the Lady Vikings 15-25, 25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 19-17 on Thursday at Pace.
While Pace’s season ended, Mercedes now advances to another “play-in” match at 4 p.m. Saturday at Lopez against the Lady Lobos.
The winner of Saturday’s match moves on to next week’s 5A bi-district playoffs and will face District 31-5A champion Mission Veterans, the Valley’s top-ranked team.
It was a back-and-forth match the entire way Thursday for the Lady Vikings and Lady Tigers, who came on strong during the second round of district to give themselves a chance for the playoffs.
“We went 0-6 at the beginning of district play and I told our girls once we won one that would be it and we would not be losing anymore (and we would put ourselves in playoff contention),” Mercedes coach Cynthia Wareham said. “Our girls really played hard tonight. They weren’t cautious about where they put the ball. They went up there (aggressively) and hit it, found the holes (in Pace’s defense) and just played smart.
“Our serving at the beginning was off, but you know what? The girls fought to the very end, and that’s what mattered most,” Wareham added. “Point for point, our girls went at it. They weren’t scared, it didn’t matter and they just went up and hit the ball.”
The score was tied 13 times in the fifth and deciding set. The last deadlock was 17-17. From there, Pace hit long to put Mercedes up 18-17. A cross-court kill by Mercedes then made it 19-17 and won the match for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Vikings had gone ahead 12-7 in the fifth game when Mercedes hit long, but the Lady Tigers battled back to gain the victory and keep their hopes alive to reach the postseason.
Stat leaders for the Lady Tigers included Erinn Ramirez (14 kills, 15 assists), Roslynn Rodriguez (15 kills), Mika Vento (12 kills), Bethany Closner (19 assists) and Jenny Rincon (17 digs).
Pace coach Gavin Rudder was unable to direct his team Thursday due to an illness. Assistant coach Delma Hernandez coached the Lady Vikings in Rudder’s absence.