By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
The 2017 volleyball season became one of Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra’s most memorable in 25 years of coaching the Rivera Lady Raiders.
It included her 500th career victory, the Lady Raiders’ first district title since 2007 and a trip to the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs.
For those reasons and more, Avelar-Guerra has been selected for the Coach of the Year award on The Brownsville Herald’s 2017 All-Metro Volleyball Team.
The Lady Raiders went 29-11 overall and won District 32-6A with a 14-0 record. Rivera’s season came to an all-too-soon end on Nov. 3 with a 12-25, 25-19, 25-7, 22-25, 15-11 area-round loss to District 29-6A runner-up Laredo Alexander at Rio Grande City.
The Rivera coach, who captured her 500th career win on Sept. 1 as the Lady Raiders triumphed in a sweep at home against Edinburg High, finished the 2017 season with a 517-300 overall record.
“This season has been fantastic,” Avelar-Guerra said. “The girls worked very hard. Including their (participation in) club ball, they’ve been playing all year round, and they’ve given me a lot. I really appreciate everything they’ve done for this team and for the school. They’ve been great representatives for our school, not just this year, but all the time they’ve been here.
“It was awesome coaching this team because they have so much talent, they worked hard and they have a lot of heart,” she added. “They just put everything together, which made them such a great team.”
The Rivera coach’s 500th victory came about with perfect timing as the Lady Raiders were at home when they defeated Edinburg High in three games on Sept. 1, and it happened prior to the start of 32-6A action. Originally, it appeared the 500th win would come at a tournament on the other end of the Valley, but due to the threat of Hurricane Harvey in late August, Brownsville teams weren’t allowed to travel out of town that weekend, so the milestone victory wound up taking place a few days later during a match at home for the Lady Raiders.
“I was kind of concerned that the 500th win wasn’t going to happen until (during) district, so there would be a lot of pressure (on the girls), but we got it early and it gave the girls a big boost before district started,” Avelar-Guerra said. “Yes, it was actually perfect timing. Everything fell right into place where we needed it to be. A lot of that was the girls working very hard and then they did what they had to do (to notch win No. 500 when they did).
“This was a team that played without fear,” she added. “The girls played like sisters, they played together and everything just jelled. It was an amazing season with the 500th victory, the undefeated (14-0) run in district and our playoff win (a 27-25, 25-19, 25-22 bi-district triumph against Edinburg North). It was just amazing.”
Avelar-Guerra said she is grateful for her assistants, who include husband Richard Guerra, Shirley Zuniga, Cindy Sierra and Thomas Brashear,
Regarding her coach of the year awards for All-Metro and all-district, “Coach Ave” said, “(Getting) those honors is just great because I know there are a lot of coaches out there who also deserve it, so I’m really honored to receive it this year. I really want to thank my girls because one of the main reasons I’m receiving honors is because of the way they responded. I’m going to miss my seniors a lot and I’m really happy I’ll be getting my juniors back (next season).
“I hope our future teams can follow in these girls’ footsteps and learn from what they did,” Avelar-Guerra added. “Hopefully they can do the same thing.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess