MARIO AGUIRRE |
STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Tuesday marked an anniversary of sorts for Edinburg Vela’s Jaida Muhammad. As the second half of district got under way last season, Muhammad was promoted to the varsity team, plugged in as a defensive specialist.
A year later, Muhammad’s game continues to evolve. Now, she shoulders some of the scoring load, as well, pouring in a match-high 11 kills on Tuesday to propel the Lady SaberCats to a 25-12, 25-17, 25-18 victory over Sharyland High to start the second round of district.
“She’s really grown a lot,” Edinburg Vela coach Araceli Ortega said. “She has a great work ethic and she really trusts in her teammates. I just think she’s done a very good job of working hard in her position.”
Muhammad, a sophomore, led the way Tuesday providing 12 digs, as the Lady SaberCats improved to 20-13 overall, 4-3 in district.
The outside hitter, in her first full season on varsity, helped Edinburg Vela pull away in what was a close start to Game 3. Teammate Anna Garza (18 assists, six digs) delivered back-to-back aces before Garza fed Muhammad for a 17-14 advantage as the Lady SaberCats began to pull away.
“Really, what’s worked for us is the ball movement, getting it to the outside, picking up digs,” Muhammad said. “We really talked, we really motivated each other, and that’s what’s helped us.”
The Lady SaberCats were in control all night, closing out Game 1 on a 9-0 run, keyed by Garza’s feed to Nicole Avelar and capped by Lexi Esparza’s kill. They carried that over into Game 2, where they started with a 7-0 spurt, when Sarah Moreno set up Muhammad for a left-handed punch.
Vela maintained a seven-point edge throughout the set, with Mariely Rebollar finding Moreno to go up 14-7. Moreno then served up an ace and connected with Larissa Navarro on a back-row kill to ignite the Lady SaberCats in a seesaw battle to close out that set with a 2-0 cushion. Navarro finished the match with seven kills and four digs.
“They controlled the game better than we did,” Sharyland High coach Raul Castillo said. “Errors on our side, tons of them. We thought we were doing well defensively and serve-receiving. But today, we didn’t show up.”
It was the Lady Rattlers’ errors, in fact, that made the margins closer, with Edinburg Vela taking full advantage. With Muhammad scoring to make it 15-12 in Game 1, Sharyland High committed a service error and then had three balls go long, coming up empty the rest of the way.
“I think we really put something together,” Ortega said. “i think the girls have put trust in each other and hopefully that’ll help us in the second round. I think a lot of it was just finding that connection, just working with each other, building that team work.”
Vela’s Maranda Washington finished with 14 digs and eight points, and Nicole Castaneda added five stuffed blocks.
Sharyland High (18-21, 3-4) was led by Paige Jones’ 10 kills, 10 digs and five assists. Maddie Garza added five kills, nine digs and 10 assists.