By ROY HESS
Staff Writer
There’s a first time for everything, including a trip to the state playoffs.
The St. Joseph Academy Lady Bloodhounds will be making their first appearance in the TAPPS Class 5A postseason in volleyball at 6 p.m. Tuesday when they play Houston Cypress Christian in Odem. It’s an area-round matchup. Both teams received bi-district byes during the weekend.
The Lady Bloodhounds are competing in just the fourth year of their program under veteran coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino. It’s their first season of district competition at the varsity level.
SJA went 5-3 to place second in its district behind Victoria St. Joseph and is 21-11 overall. Cypress Christian is 19-12-2. A win Tuesday would advance the Lady Bloodhounds to the TAPPS 5A state quarterfinals later this week.
The UIL volleyball playoffs begin this week as well.
Things get underway at 6:30 p.m. today as Rivera plays host to Edinburg North in a Class 6A bi-district match.
Besides Rivera, three other District 32-6A teams play their 6A bi-district matches Tuesday. Hanna is at Edinburg Vela at 6:30 p.m., Edinburg High is at Harlingen South at 6:30 p.m. and Los Fresnos is at Weslaco High at 7 p.m.
In Class 5A bi-district matches involving squads from District 32-5A at 7 p.m. Tuesday, it’s Brownsville Veterans Memorial vs. Sharyland Pioneer at Weslaco East, Lopez at Mission Veterans, Sharyland High vs. Donna High at PSJA Southwest and PSJA Memorial at Edcouch-Elsa.
The bi-district winners in all UIL classes advance to area-round competition later this week.
The Lady Bloodhounds are a young team with no seniors.
“I’ve been with this program since the very start as a seventh-grader, and it’s really great to see my friends (on the team) grow into such amazing players,” said SJA’s Halima Dervisevic, a sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter/setter and also a team captain. “We’re going to grow as a team and get even better.
“We bond really well, even with our freshmen, who are amazing, too,” Dervisevic added. “We pray and dedicate some time to God. I think that helps us as we trust Him with our matches. It takes the pressure off and allows us to just play and have fun.
“We’re really excited about our first playoff match in TAPPS. We’ve been working hard to get to the playoffs, and we’re hopeful we can do well. We’re hopeful because we’ve come so far already.”
Along with Dervisevic, the other team captain for the Lady Bloodhounds is Ally Stachowiak, a junior middle blocker.
Besides Dervisevic and Stachowiak, SJA team members include Natalia Montemayor, Tori Gonzalez, Mildred Verlage, Elise Esparza, Juliana Trevino, Alexandra Vazquez, Bekah Rodriguez and Alejandra Ortiz.
“I think it’s really cool how we got second place in district our first time ever (playing in TAPPS) when I don’t think anyone really expected too much from us in volleyball because it’s a new sport at our school,” Stachowiak said. “I’m actually very happy and satisfied with how we’re doing.
“I think we can do anything if we put our minds to it,” Stachowiak added. “If we can win our first playoff match, I think we can go a long way. I believe in our team. It’s a team with a lot of chemistry and communication.”
Olguin-Trevino returned to coaching to start volleyball at SJA after retiring following stints at Hanna and Los Fresnos. She said it’s been quite a rewarding experience.
“This has been four years in the making,” the SJA coach said of her team’s trip to the playoffs. “It’s been pretty satisfying and pretty amazing because I could see the possibilities (with this program), and these girls have met some of those expectations. Of course, I have more expectations. Every time we play, I raise the bar a little bit and I tell the girls not to be satisfied with just being at the level we’re at.”
For making the playoffs, the Lady Bloodhounds were allowed to trim their coach’s hair.
“It’s been pretty amazing starting a program, which is something I had always talked about doing,” said Olguin-Trevino, who is assisted by David Rodriguez. “I always wanted to go to a small school and build a program from scratch, and here I am. I’ve been blessed that I have a lot of good athletes who are good students as well. I have a lot of support from the parents and the administration, so yes, I’ve been very blessed.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.