FALFURRIAS — Kaitlyn Martin and Alicia Ziegler have shown bigger and brighter flashes of greatness for McAllen Memorial as the season has progressed.
Thursday, they displayed no flashes.
Just greatness.
The Mustangs middle hitters/blockers were the game changers Thursday, leading McAllen Memorial to a 19-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 15-10 victory over Gregory-Portland during the second round of the UIL Class 5A state volleyball tournament at Falfurrias Junior High.
“They were more than game-changers today,” McAllen Memorial head coach Ashley Doffing said. “They built momentum for us and stopped it a lot of times for them.”
The two middles played large, combining for 17 kills, 11 blocks and a host of other G-P attacks they were able to get touches on to help their defense. Ziegler finished with 11 kills and two blocks while Martin contributed six kills and nine blocks.
Memorial will play the winner of Flour Bluff and Sharyland Pioneer in the Region 4-5A quarterfinals at a time yet to be determined. Pioneer and Flour Bluff play at 6 p.m. today at Falfurrias High School.
Memorial’s performance offensively may have been the most impressive this season. Slugger Amare Hernandez blasted 20 kills while Leah Garcia and Madisyn Sosa each hammered 11 kills to go with two blocks apiece.
While point of contact to attack sometimes looked more like something from the Family Circus, the Mustangs didn’t let those lapses last long. Part of that issue stemmed from a Gregory-Portland team that used every possible trick, from tips to the middle to second-ball pushes deep and to the corners, or cut at a harsh angle to massive attacks from their big hitters Madison Kilgore and Morgan Suggs.
But, they didn’t have an answer for Martin and Ziegler.
“Coach told us to keep our hands on the ball and we were trying to pick up their offense,” Martin said. “We were looking to be effective on offense too.”
“They had no block in the second and third set, they were just not there – just needed to use them more,” Ziegler said. “They were blocking the outsides so there was nobody left. It started working for us so we just kept going with it.”
This story will be updated.