By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
After one month of tournaments and non-district matches, Rio Grande Valley volleyball teams are ready to get down to business.
The majority of them, including teams from the East Valley’s Metro area, open district play Saturday.
At noon Saturday in District 32-6A, it’s Los Fresnos at Lopez, Harlingen South at Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Rivera at Harlingen High. Also in 32-6A, it’s Hanna at San Benito at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Los Fresnos and Brownsville Veterans are defending co-champions in 32-6A. They advanced four and three rounds, respectively, in the playoffs last season.
“Yes, we’re excited, anxious and motivated to defend the district title,” said Lady Falcons coach Becky Woods, whose squad will take a 23-8 record and a No. 3 Valley ranking into its district opener. “We are ready to kick it off on Saturday against Lopez.”
Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said there’s some uncertainty surrounding what might happen once district begins.
“I’m a little nervous,” Hagemann said. “There are a lot of teams (in 32-6A) close to us, so let’s see what happens.”
He said Harlingen High could be a surprise team to watch. Los Fresnos, Brownsville Veterans and Hanna would appear to be among the 32-6A favorites.
Also opening district play Saturday is 32-5A, where at 2 p.m. it’s Porter at Donna North, PSJA High at Edcouch-Elsa and Donna High at PSJA Southwest. Another 32-5A match at 3 p.m. has Mercedes at Pace.
“Last year we finished one game away from making the playoffs,” Porter coach Laura Fortner said. “We lost to Mercedes, and that kept us from going. This year, I definitely believe we can finish in the top four (and go to the postseason).”
The Pace Lady Vikings believe they have the team to get to the playoffs, too.
“We’re working on perfecting the basics of our game (going into district),” Pace coach Gavin Rudder said. “Our defense is solid right now, it’s our offense that needs a little tweaking, so that’s what we’re concentrating on.
“The good thing is our team is very competitive (for spots in the starting lineup), so it could switch from day to day or week to week,” Rudder added. “You never know, and that’s the best thing I like about our team is you never know how competitive we are.”
District 32-4A also opens Saturday, and the schedule of 2 p.m. matches has Port Isabel at Zapata, Progreso at Grulla and Hidalgo at Rio Hondo. Raymondville is at La Feria at 1 p.m.
“We’ve got that long trip to Zapata, but at least it’s on a Saturday and we won’t have to leave at the crack of dawn,” Port Isabel coach Julie Breedlove said.
“I think we’re going to be right up there (as district contenders) with everybody again,” she added. “We’re a young team, but our players are coming along. I feel we’ll be very competitive. I’m proud of the girls for the effort they’ve been giving.”
Also Saturday, Districts 31-6A, 30-6A and 31-5A each will have three opening matches as well.
FIRST MATCHES: The SJA seventh-graders won 25-13, 25-7, and the SJA eighth-graders were defeated 25-12, 25-14.
“The seventh-graders did a great job playing as a team and helping each other,” SJA coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino said. “They’ve really clicked and have a lot of desire and drive and a very good leader. It’s going to be fun watching them grow into the game.
“The eighth-graders did OK,” she added. “They just have to get used to playing together. There’s quite a bit of talent on the team. They just have to learn how to play together and to have confidence in each other. We’re still working on finding a strong leader to take the reins. When they finally do click, they’ll be pretty competitive.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.