RGVSPORTS.COM
After steamrolling through most of the regular season and again in the early rounds of the playoffs, Mission Veterans Memorial came up short in the regional semifinals, losing 25-16, 25-20, 25-11 to Alamo Heights at Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” Lady Patriots coach Diana Lerma said. “We had the opportunity but they just didn’t bring it.
“Our strength was always the energy and being able to stick together. And it seems like it’s just something we couldn’t do tonight. We couldn’t get it clicking.”
The Lady Patriots finished the season 34-7, winning a consecutive district title. They were 42-0 last year heading into the Sweet 16 before being swept by Cedar Park. This year figured to be different, especially after facing stiffer competition in a 64-team, invitation-only tournament in Houston.
“I don’t know what it was that freaked them out,” Lerma said. “I told them, ‘You’ve been fighting for this position. It’s like I see that you’re satisfied.’ We were nowhere to be found.
“(Alamo Heights) just did the little things better. They kept picking up the ball and we kept watching it drop.”
D.D. Ibarra (five assists, 25 digs) and Gabby Lerma (10 assists, 13 assists) picked up the scoring load, recording 10 kills apiece. Daisy Reyna chipped in with five kills, three digs and three blocks. And Adela Parras added 10 digs and Valerie Osorio contributed 15.
SAN ANTONIO CLARK 3, McALLEN HIGH 0: At San Antonio, the Lady Bulldogs’ season came to a close with a 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 loss at Alamo Convocation Center.
Syndey Pemelton had 10 kills, two aces and one block. Julia Monday recorded eight kills. And Carter Helmcamp had five kills and 11 assists.
“Obviously they’re a good team,” McHi coach Paula Dodge said of Clark. “We didn’t execute some things correctly. Defensively, we were a little bit off. We needed to move a little bit quicker. We just had first-game jitters that we kind of took care of in the second game. Everything was just a little bit off. You have to execute everything perfect when you’re up here.
“Our defense, our transition was a little bit slow,” Dodge said. “At times, we had spurts. We hung in there. A couple times we were ahead, especially in the second game. We just fell short. We fell short tonight. We needed to be a little tougher.”
For McHi (38-6), the District 30-6A champions, it was its first trip to the regional semifinal since 2005.
Lexi Giusti doled out a team-high 18 assists. Julissa Villarreal chipped in with 10 digs, and Kelly Woodin added nine digs.