BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
ELSA — The Edcouch-Elsa Lady Yellowjackets used a crisp passing game and solid defense to get past a spirited Harlingen High Lady Cardinals team 26-24, 19-25, 25-8, 19-25, 15-11 on Tuesday night.
The tough non-district match had just about everything: injuries, long runs, dynamic kills, dozens of digs and even some questionable calls. But in the end, the Lady Yellowjackets did enough to win behind the leadership of senior setter Jackie De Los Santos and the defense of Paloma Ybarra.
De Los Santos repeatedly set up her front line with an array for nearly perfect lobs that hitters like Ybarra, Ale Martinez and Maddie Acevedo crushed for points. The Lady Yellowjackets (12-11) were nimble and moved quickly in set plays and in scrambling to keep balls alive.
“Communication is the key, and we need to know who is behind us and around us, where the ball is going to go, and who’s going to get the ball at all times,” De Los Santos said. “For me even if it’s a bad pass, just make a better set and get the hitter the ball.”
De Los Santos and E-E did that enough times to pull out the victory. It wasn’t easy as E-E had to deal with the dynamic, high-flying play of Harlingen junior outside hitter Yazmine Martinez. She was a one-woman wrecking crew sometimes Harlingen’s only offensive option.
Martinez finished with 18 kills and nearly had enough to get the Lady Cardinals a win over E-E for the first time this season (after losing earlier in the year).
With the match tied at two games apiece, E-E raced out to 9-3 lead in the fifth and final game and looked like it would run away it. That was until Martinez heated up and began to pound the ball. Harlingen got to within 14-11, but E-E finally was able to prevail.
“It was a good test. Harlingen was moving, hustling and doing a great job,” said Lady Yellowjackets coach Ofelia Griffith. “And on our part we were doing our jobs, sometimes. And I think that’s where the problems arose. That’s what took us a little longer.”
Griffith said her team will not make excuses and must play better as district approaches, and added that with better execution the match could have been wrapped quicker. She also said the team played well at key points, but was still looking for consistency.
For Harlingen, coach Jennifer Martinez said she was not pleased with the result, but happy with the effort of her youthful squad. Along with ace hitter Martinez, libero Julissa Munivez also had an outstanding game in the loss with at least 14 digs. She said she looks for tough opponents like E-E to get ready for district.
“Edcouch always has a great program. A great coach. We look forward to playing them every year,” Martinez said. “We are just trying to clean things up. They are young. They are juniors. We are just trying to fine tune it before district. We have a lot of work to do.”