By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
One journey has reached its destination and another is about to begin in the Class 6A state playoffs for the Rivera Lady Raiders in volleyball.
The Lady Raiders achieved their goal of winning District 32-6A with a 14-0 record thanks to Tuesday’s 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 victory at home against the Harlingen South Lady Hawks (4-10).
It was the final night of scheduled 32-6A action, although it appears Hanna and Harlingen High will have a “play-in” match later this week to determine a postseason qualifier since both squads wound up tied for fourth place with 8-6 records.
While Rivera advances to the playoffs almost every year, this season’s district title is somewhat unique because it’s the school’s first in volleyball since 2007.
“I’m so proud of my team. I knew we could do it,” said Rivera’s Stephanie Garza, a senior outside hitter and team captain. “To be district champs with an undefeated record, it feels amazing to have this happen my senior year.
“You should never go into a match (like tonight’s) too confident,” she added. “We had some confidence, but not too much because anything can happen, so this just feels amazing now that we’ve done it.”
The Lady Raiders, who were the runner-up team in 32-6A last season behind Los Fresnos, now begin preparations for the bi-district playoffs, which are set to start next Monday or Tuesday. Rivera will go against the fourth-place team from District 31-6A, which could be PSJA High or Edinburg North.
“I’m just so excited and in awe of our girls because they did an exceptional job, even though we had a very hard district with a lot of good teams,” said Lady Raiders coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra, who is in her 25th year at Rivera and earlier this season reached the 500-win coaching milestone. “I told the girls that everyone in our district was beatable, including us, so we needed to be ready to play hard in every match. I told them it was going to be a tough road all the way through.
“I’m so proud of the girls because they stepped it up,” Avelar-Guerra added. “Every team they faced, they played as hard as they could. They really deserve this championship because they worked so hard for it.”
South played Rivera on even terms for much of the match, but the Lady Raiders were the ones to surge ahead at the end and win each of the three games.
The Lady Hawks went ahead by scores of 12-10 and 13-11 in the third set, but down the stretch, they could not hold off the Lady Raiders.
Providing strong play at the net for the Lady Hawks were Cameron Del Angel, Kimberly Rodriguez and Annelle Rodriguez.
Stat leaders for the Lady Raiders included Litzy Medina (12 kills, six digs, four aces), Kourtney Shears (26 assists, one ace), Mayra Martinez (nine kills, three blocks, two digs), Maddy Blanco (15 digs) and Garza (nine kills, eight digs, two aces).