BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MISSION — As the halfway point of the District 31-5A season nears, the Mission Veterans Patriots have established themselves as the class of the league once again. But they are not without a drawback or two.
The Patriots are one of the rare teams in Valley volleyball that can crush opponents on account of their power and passing. The Patriots can also become complacent, with their unforced errors digging large deficits.
Mission Veterans gave their home fans a taste of both in a 25-12, 25-15, 25-22 sweep of Sharyland High on Tuesday night.
“I can honestly say we didn’t play our best match, but Sharyland (High) was prepared for us,” Mission Veterans junior Makenzie Gerlach said. “But we were stronger in the end.”
“We have a goal that we were going to keep them under a certain number, and we did that in the first two games,” Mission Veterans coach Diana Lerma said. “In the last game, we kind of slacked, but it was like the girls knew they were going to take them down in three.”
The Patriots (20-3, 7-0) kept the Rattlers (17-10, 5-2) far away from forming a serious challenge in the first two games. Outside of a 1-0 Sharyland High lead in game two, Mission Veterans led at every other juncture of the first two games.
“We missed some key points,” Sharyland High coach Raul Castillo said. “They served us tough, and we couldn’t convert. It threw us off balance. We also gave up too many free balls. You can’t give a team like that that many free balls. They’ll just come back and hit it as hard as they can.”
Mission Veterans started game three in a 4-0 hole and saw Sharyland High’s lead grow to six at 10-4. But the Patriots dug out of it and closed out the victory.
“Once we get a great hit, everything starts rolling again,” Mission Veterans sophomore Kassy Lerma, who had 7 kills and 10 digs, said. “Sometimes the perfect pass, perfect set and perfect hit is all it takes.”
The Patriots will close out the first round of district play when they travel to Valley View and take on the Tigers at 1 p.m. Saturday. Aiming for a perfect 16-0 record in District 31-5A has been the goal since the beginning of the year.
“We don’t want to lose a game, but we don’t even want to lose a set, either,” Gerlach said. “For it to be that close (in the third game), I don’t know what we were thinking. But we need to keep working hard in practice.”
“This school has that powerhouse tradition,” Diana Lerma said. “We aim to finish perfect, because ultimately that is one of the goals we want to reach this year, in addition to making it to state. I know they are goal-oriented, so something like this keeps them going.”