ANDREW CRUM | STAFF WRITER
From the opening serve, the tension could be felt throughout the gym.
Mission Veterans Memorial and Brownsville Veterans Memorial, both playoff teams one year ago, played with playoff-like intensity during the early season match.
But the Lady Patriots came away with the slim victory, defeating the Lady Chargers 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 15-25, 15-13 on Tuesday at Brownsville Veterans.
“It was pretty intense,” Brownsville Veterans coach Lisa Mares said. “Mission Veterans was in the Sweet 16 last year. They’re a very good team. They have good tradition at the school of being very good. I knew when I scheduled games for this year, I wanted tough games like this. That’s what’s going to prepare us for district. These girls want to go further in the playoffs, so I wanted a hard non-district match.”
Mission Veterans coach Diana Lerma agreed about the intensity of the match and the competition.
“We love coming to play against (Brownsville) Veterans Memorial, they have an excellent volleyball program, we know they are a playoff caliber team,” she said. “They were intense from the beginning to the end.”
In Game 1, Mission Veterans and Brownsville Veterans went back and forth until they were knotted at 19. The Lady Patriots finished on a 6-2 run aided by two kills by Daisy Reyna to lead 1-0.
The Lady Chargers came back strong in Game 2. Down 20-14, Brownsville Veterans finished the game with an 11-2 run, receiving two kills apiece from Mariza Cardenas and Emily Alvarado down the stretch to tie the match at 1.
The Lady Patriots weren’t daunted and rallied to win Game 3. Led by four kills by Gabrielle Lerma along with a kill and a pair of assists from D.D. Ibarra, Mission Veterans took back the momentum.
Brownsville Veterans wasn’t fazed and came out with purpose in Game 4. The Lady Chargers started with an 8-1 run and were dominant throughout, winning by 10 points to force a decisive fifth game.
“Both teams have the tradition of going to playoffs, and that’s why we kept going neck and neck,” Lerma said. “When it got (tied) at 2, it could have gone either way.”
The fifth game was no different from the other four, as the teams made runs until it was tied at 10. Mission Veterans took advantage of a few unforced errors by the Lady Chargers, but Brownsville Veterans tied the game at 13. The Lady Patriots held on, scoring the last two points and taking the match 3-2.
Lerma, who finished with 23 kills and five assists, led the Lady Patriots. Ibarra had 10 kills, 14 assists and 15 digs, and Reyna finished with six kills and a pair of blocks for Mission Veterans.
The Lady Chargers had no reason to hang their heads.
“I’m very proud of the girls because I feel we are behind with our consistency,” Mares said. “The way they lost and came back says a lot. It says we’re not quite there yet, but we’re going to get there.
“I’m proud of the way they played.”
Cardenas led the Lady Chargers with 18 kills and three blocks. Sarah Sandoval had nine kills, Clarissa Chavez had 19 assists, BB Brown had 16 assists and Krista Lopez finished with 28 digs for Brownsville Veterans.
Despite the loss, Mares knew her team learned about itself.
“I know you’re disappointed because we lost, but know that you can play right there with them,” she said. “Our goal is to go to the playoffs and do well in district.
“We have just a few errors that we need to get fixed.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.