Three local high schools in the city of Brownsville will be the host to UIL volleyball matches with district title and playoff implications today.
The Brownsville Rivera Raiders play host to the Harlingen High Cardinals at 3 p.m. in a District 32-6A meeting. The other two matches are set to begin at noon today.
The situation in the district is somewhat complicated heading into today. The only thing that is not is that if Brownsville Rivera loses, Raiders will be 6-3 and out of the title race.
If the Raiders beat Harlingen High, they will need the Cardinals to beat Los Fresnos on Tuesday to create a three-way tie atop the standings.
Raiders head coach Mary Avelar-Guerra hopes the lessons learned from the Los Fresnos defeats carry over today, especially the second-round meeting in which the Raiders had a chance to go up 2-1 against the Falcons.
“I remind them that when you are playing loose and having fun, you are awesome. You went in there and you did a great job,” Avelar-Guerra said.
Avelar-Guerra said the team tightened up during the third set and that not losing was more important than winning.
“You cannot worry about winning or losing. You have to worry about playing as hard as you can. Whatever happens, happens,” she said.
The Brownsville Rivera head coach expects a dogfight against Harlingen High.
“The girls are ready and excited, but I am trying to keep them calm, especially because it is homecoming this week,” she said. “I am trying to remind them to stay focused and not listen to all the noise going on around them.”
District 32-5A powerhouses Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Brownsville Pace will battle for the district title as well.
The Chargers and Vikings are 15-1 in district. Brownsville Pace defeated Brownsville Veterans in a thrilling five-set match during the first round of district.
The Chargers hit the film hard, learned their mistakes and have practiced on fixing those errors for the second round of district in preparation for the Vikings, Brownsville Veterans head coach Sherry Hoskins said.
“We worked on those errors as a whole throughout practice. We even used certain game-time situations and utilized that time as practice as well in preparation for Pace,” Hoskins said.
The Chargers are using the same approach to prepare for their possible playoff opponent as well, Hoskins said.
Like Brownsville Veterans, Brownsville Pace has a similar mentality headed into the match.
“I told them go out there and have fun,” Vikings head coach Daya Venegas said. “If we get first place, great, if not, we need to reach the goal of getting past the first round.”
Venegas said winning district would be awesome, of course, but advancing past the first round is a little more important.
“Vets is a great team, and we need to go there and play almost perfect. We have been preparing for this big game and the playoffs,” Venegas said.
Because of the matches Tuesday, the district title will not be won outright today, but whichever team wins will be in pole position. The two will meet at Brownsville Veterans High School.
In the Southmost, Brownsville Porter and Brownsville Lopez, both 9-7 in District 32-5A, meet with the fourth seed of the district hanging in the balance at Lopez High School.
Brownsville Porter went 1-4 to start district, closed out the end of the first round with a 4-5 record and only lost to Brownsville Pace and Brownsville Veterans during the second round to stand at 9-7.
“The girls are peaking at the right time,” Porter head coach Ashley Martinez said. “Playing for something makes the practices more interesting, enjoyable, because of the mood and energy. The school pride is also behind us, the girls are getting high-fives in hallways, everybody is really involved and excited for them.”
The Cowgirls and Lobos are both trending in different directions during the second round of district. Brownsville Lopez was ahead of Brownville Porter by three matches in the standings 10 days ago.
Losers of five straight matches, Brownsville Lopez has been hit by injuries, but head coach Cynthia Wareham said the girls know what is at stake.
“Being that it is our biggest rival from down the road, it makes it more intense for them,” Wareham said. “So, they are not actually looking at it as they need to make playoffs, they are rather looking at it, like, it is Porter, we have to beat them.”