By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
Regardless of the sport, all teams face challenges, and that includes the St. Joseph Academy Lady Bloodhounds in volleyball.
Although the season has just started, the Lady Bloodhounds already have lost three players who transferred to a public school, plus another player who quit the team. Three of the four players where being counted upon as starters, so those moves have impacted the squad.
But the Lady Bloodhounds seem to be responding in a positive way. They are the hosts of a two-day, 12-team tournament on the SJA campus this weekend. Things went well for the Lady Bloodhounds as they won their tournament opener Friday against Santa Rosa 25-11, 25-20.
After defeating Santa Rosa, the Lady Bloodhounds advanced to play La Villa and won again, 26-25, 25-10.
“Right now, we’re still trying to mesh as a team after losing the players we lost,” SJA coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino said. “For the most part, I think, we’ve adjusted. The players that needed to step up are stepping up. We still struggle (at times). On the court I have two seniors, three sophomores and one freshman, and at times a junior.
“These girls are learning to adjust,” Olguin-Trevino added. “They’re troopers. They’re not going to put their heads down and pout (if adverse things happen). They’re just going to move forward, and that’s the only thing I can ask of them. I tell them, ‘Just give me 100 percent and do your best every time.’ If they can do that, they can do great things.”
One of the two starting seniors is Victoria Gonzalez. The other is Ally Stachowiak.
“I think we’re doing really well considering who we lost,” Gonzalez said. “We lost people who were important to the team and who were people who had been here since we first started the team, but I think we’re doing well. We’re doing our best and we’re still winning, and we just have to keep going.”
Added Stachowiak, a tall middle blocker who is a leader in kills for the team, “It was kind of tough having those players leave. One of them was our setter and another one was a really good hitter. But I think we’ve done really well. Our new setter Elise (Esparza, a freshman) is doing a very good job. I think it’s just made us closer.
“I think we have a lot of potential and we’re going to make it to the (TAPPS) playoffs,” Stachowiak added. “I think it’s going to be a good season.”
Other first-round results Friday included Brownsville Jubilee over San Isidro 25-22, 25-16; Brownsville Pace over Santa Maria 25-7, 26-24; and San Perlita over Port Isabel 25-4, 25-9. A second-round result saw Pace defeat Edinburg IDEA Quest 25-15, 25-10.
Brownsville Jubilee is the defending champion of the 2nd annual SJA Tournament.
The championship match is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. today at SJA.