McALLEN — It’s rather easy to get caught up watching Sharyland Pioneer’s silky smooth and extremely versatile offense. It’s fast — and venomous.
While the Diamondbacks’ full attack arsenal was on display Saturday, it was their defense — from the front to the back row — that stood out during a convincing 25-14, 19-25, 25-11, 25-13 victory over McAllen High on Saturday. The win kept the Diamondbacks tied for first place with McAllen Memorial in District 31-5A at 8-1, while the Bulldogs dropped to a tie for fourth place with Sharyland High, which lost in four sets to McAllen Memorial, also on Saturday.
McAllen Rowe defeated Valley View to move into sole possession of third place in the district standings. McHi, Rowe and Sharyland were all tied at 5-3 going into this weekend.
Lorelai Hill, Jordan Bravo and Thalia Ochoa were constant presences at the net defensively, getting their hands on a majority of McHi attacks, and libero Lizzy Fina sprawled all over the gym, popping up other attacks to keep rallies alive throughout the match. What was more impressive was the way they were able to transition off difficult saves and into effective counter attacks.
“Whenever we play big games like this, we try to focus on the blocks,” Bravo said, adding that the blocking seemed to have stepped up following a five-set victory over Memorial a week ago. “Even off the block, you want to get there and cover as much net as you can.”
“Jordan did an amazing job covering every seam and our defense was constantly getting there,” Hill said. “They knew what (McHi) has done before and knowing their routine before and what they do really helps.”
The offense was as fluid as it has been all season, led by the steady and polished touch of setter Natalie Reyes, who orchestrated a masterpiece, supported by her host of hitters.
But the defense is what made the difference, smothering McHi’s multiple hitters time and again, clearly frustrating the team and keeping the Bulldogs’ offense from getting into sync the entire match.
Pioneer registered 10 blocks, but that doesn’t include the number of balls the Diamondbacks got their hands on, slowing many of the attacks McHi attempted. The defense also allowed few tips to reach the ground, covering the floor like a rug.
The Diamondbacks were crisp with their passing, consistent with their serves and precisely followed the Volleyball 101 playbook, more often than not, en route to positive outcomes.
McHi, meanwhile, could only muster five runs of more than two points in a row outside of the second set, which they won. Those runs twice came with each Kaydence Pritchard and Sharian Ruiz serving, and each run came with a service ace. The other run occurred with Aleah Saenz serving.
The Bulldogs showed some brilliance defensively at times. Guili Ornelas and Saenz dove and rolled all over the court, putting pause in the Pioneer attack that registered 52 kills. More often than not, however, those saves didn’t lead to counter attacks, and when they did, the Pioneer block was too stingy to get past.
Ochoa paced the offense with 15 kills and three blocks, while Hill added 11 kills and a pair of blocks. Mariana Treviño and the high-flying Katie Salazar contributed nine kills each, while Treviño contributed four blocks and Bravo had six kills and eight blocks.
Pioneer knew it was going up against a McHi team that had been gaining confidence after big wins over Sharyland High and, on Tuesday, McAllen Rowe.
“We were concerned about their confidence being high and wanted to shut it down quickly, in the first couple of points,” Hill said. “I thought we did that and then shut them down pretty easily there at the end.”