Audrey Zamora took off like a sprinter once the starter’s gun cracks.
A Dripping Springs hitter had just blasted an attack that a defender deflected and the ball started to fly toward the back of the cavernous gym. Zamora, the McAllen High senior libero, kept her eye on it like an outfielder and, for those watching the livestream, disappeared offscreen.
For what seemed like an eternity in volleyball time, the silence in the gym was deafening. The ball came back into play and Zamora followed shortly after, keeping the point alive and the rally going.
That, however, was just one of many highlights during a year in which Zamora was the epitome of a human highlight film.
For her amazing and awe-inspiring defensive work during the season, Zamora has been named The Monitor’s All-Area Volleyball Libero of the Year.
“I did whatever I needed to do to get the ball, even if I had to throw myself onto the floor,” Zamora said. “It was my senior year and we didn’t have a preseason, so I wanted to make the most of every game, no matter if it was a difficult team or an easy team. I was glad we were able to play and be able to have fun.”
Zamora played an integral part in every game during McHi’s season, all the way to the Bulldogs’ Class 5A Sweet 16 matchup against a much taller and more powerful Dripping Springs squad, and she didn’t make it easy on them.
During another play in that match, Dripping Spring blistered a kill attempt inside the 10-foot line and began celebrating the point, but there was no whistle as Zamora’s outstretched arm and hand slid along the floor and under the ball, popping it up and again keeping a rally improbably alive.
“I remember both of those plays,” McAllen High head coach Paula Dodge said. “She made some amazing defensive saves for us during that game. She was spot on. We had never seen that team before, but she adjusted so well, even when I saw that big hitter go up on that play I was like ‘uh-oh,’ but she popped it up.
“Those are examples of the type of player she is and how she plays with her heart. She loves the game, loves her teammates and loves being a Lady Bulldog. That character is what she applies in everything she does on the court, in the classroom and the community.”
Zamora’s 5.6 digs per set and 20.8 per match were tops in District 30-5A and among the best in all of South Texas. Her 5.0 serve receptions per set also were at the top among South Texas liberos and defensive specialists.
But the biggest separation came at times when the ball looked impossible to reach, whether it meant climbing the walls, jumping over chairs or diving onto the floor, only to try and figure out how that bruise got there at the end of another painful — yet fun — day as a human ball return for the biggest and hardest hitters throughout the season.
Zamora tested positive for COVID-19, and she and her Bulldogs team were put on quarantine for two weeks. She and McHi came back for one of their most grueling matches of the year, a five-set loss to McAllen Memorial, the eventual district champions.
“I think the main thing that drove my intensity was COVID and I was really glad to play again,” Zamora said. “The worst part for me was getting it and having the first game back be against McAllen Memorial. For two weeks I wasn’t able to do anything. I didn’t feel horrible but I didn’t feel 100% either.”
Dodge agreed that the case of coronavirus for Zamora, combined with the Memorial loss, put a new focus throughout the team — a focus that was showcased with Zamora’s rock-solid back row dominance.
“When we came back from the season and after we loss to Memorial, we had to win those games, they knew we had to win those game we had to win those games. Nobody wanted to lose,” Dodge said. “The seniors definitely didn’t want to lose, we didn’t want to lose and they way they played and the way Audrey played in the back row expressed that message to everyone.
“Whether it’s practice or a game, even when she’s playing pepper in warmups, she refuses to let the ball hit the ground.”