MCALLEN — When freshman Amare Hernandez drilled the match-winning kill against Sharyland Pioneer on Saturday, it was one glimpse into the future of McAllen Memorial’s volleyball program.
But at the end of the day, an experienced group of seniors gave glimpses into Memorial’s here and now.
Both glimpses look promising after the Mustangs claimed a 25-19, 19-25, 25-13, 23-25, 15-12 marathon win to improve to 4-1 in a tight District 31-5A match. The loss dropped Sharyland Pioneer to 6-2 and in fourth place in the district based on losses with two. McAllen High, McAllen Rowe and McAllen Memorial all just one loss and all four teams still play each other at least one more time.
Saturday morning’s matches across the district were scheduled as the final matches of the first round as District 31-5A agreed to play doubleheaders on Saturday with a morning match and an afternoon match. Memorial and Rowe, however, still have two matches remaining. Those teams were scheduled to play Tuesday but Rowe had to postpone the match due to COVID quarantine. McAllen High and PSJA Memorial are also under quarantine from that district and Sharyland High just returned from quarantine. Valley View has yet to play this season and is expected to make an announcement on the rest of its season Monday.
Senior hitters/blockers Jocelyn Fernandez, Eliane Silberman and Natalie Silva provided big kills and bigger blocks while senior libero Cori Talamantez returned attack after attack in a match that started out filled with errors – serving, setting and attack — but ended with long rallies and huge hits — or blocks — from both sides.
“I’m very lucky and blessed to have a front row that is so intimidating and a back row that is just as good,” Memorial second-year head coach Ashley Doffing said. “This, though, is what COVID has done. It has given me no preseason and no time to fix these sloppy mistakes. But we are all on level playing fields and the kids are adjusting and in that third set it showed they adjust quickly.
“I said before they have resilience and they are showing it every game.”
Tied at 8 in the third set, Mercedes Lara served up 10 straight points including a pair of aces. Pioneer took two timeouts during that run, which also saw Fernandez tally a pair of blocks and a kill, and freshman Leah Garcia added two kills and a block assist as Memorial ran to a 19-9 lead in the third-set victory.
The fourth set was the most competitive to that point with eight ties along the way, the final coming at 16 before Pioneer went on an 8-2 run behind pressure serves from Natalie Reyes and Jorieless Caraballo. Andrea Chapa registered a kill in between Memorial’s two back row defenders and middle hitter/blocker Jordan Bravo electrified her team with a stuff block for a 24-18 lead.
Memorial, however, made it close with a 5-0 run as Garcia and Fernandez – freshman and senior worked a block together and Silva tipped a long return straight down before Pioneer closed it out 25-23 to force the final set.
Like the fourth set, the teams battled back and forth with six ties along the way, the final at 12. Memorial trailed 12-10 in that set before Fernandez rotated back and closed it out for Memorial with the final five service points. During that run Silva, who was injured earlier in the match but returned, had two big kills as did Hernandez, including the final one to end the match.
“We definitely have a wide range of kids on this team and these freshmen are stepping up, Doffing said of her fabulous four freshmen of Hernandez, Garcia, Madisyn Sosa and Gabby Torres. I’m glad we have these seniors who are here to help and mentor them along the way in this short season.
“We all knew we were coming into a tough district and it was no longer just the McAllens. If you don’t respect the other teams a loss can happen. I thought today our defense was great and we put up some pretty big blocks. Our defense played, our serve receive was working a lot better and it shows we are growing as a team. Give us a few more weeks and I think we’ll be unstoppable in the playoffs.”