McALLEN — Something just clicked.
Losing 9-6 during the second set after being easily cast aside 25-16 during the first set, McAllen High roared back to claim a 16-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-17 victory over McAllen Memorial Saturday at McAllen Memorial in a huge District 31-5A matchup between the two city rivals. The teams end the regular-season series with one win against the other.
McHi improved to 33-6 overall and 7-4 in the district, holding a one-game lead over Sharyland High. Memorial dropped to 27-14 overall and 9-2 in the district, still tied with Sharyland Pioneer, which lost for the second time this season to McAllen Rowe, in a sweep. Rowe is 8-3 and in third in an extremely tight District 31-5A battle.
It wasn’t a high-flying or thunderous, eaarth-trembling offense that turned the tide — neither team seemed to be able to win the attack battle, if there even was a battle. What the Bulldogs used was aggressive pinpoint serves, but more so plain old grit and determination, more than they’ve shown, or needed to show, all year. This has become their new style of play and they showed their intensity on multiple occasions with some devastating blocks to go along with a few post-point fiery glares across the net.
“All I heard was good luck, good luck,” McHi head coach Michael Smith said. “I don’t need luck. I’ve got 16 girls who want to fight.”
After starting the district season with back-to-back losses to Pioneer and Rowe, and going 1-3 during that span with a loss to Memorial, the Bulldogs have won six of their past seven matches including wins over three of the district’s Power 5 teams: Memorial, Sharyland High and Rowe.
“We fought, we fight. That’s what we do,” Smith said. “We had a lot to block out and we just had to play and today they played.
“It’s them (the girls). It was nothing from me. Those girls know how to play and they’re a great team. It was all them.”
As the Bulldogs started gaining momentum they became like a snowball going downhill, picking up speed and strength, just becoming to big to stop.
McHi ended the third set with a 6-0 run and finished the match on a 7-0 run as serving became their go-to weapon, rarely giving the Mustangs any “rainbows” to work with and hitting open spots all across the back row, keeping Memorial from easily setting up its potent offense. When it did, Amare Hernandez responded by putting her team on her shoulders and attacking ferociously.
On two occasions, Memorial players had a pre-celebration of a point that wasn’t a point. It ended up being a miracle save that the Bulldogs kept in play to keep the rally going. One of those plays came late during the fourth set when Aleah Saenz, with her back facing the net and the ball suddenly popping up in front of her, stuck her arm out and sent the “surprise package” over the net for a McHi point.
That was how they played after dropping the first set. There wasn’t one area where one could point and say that’s how the Bulldogs claimed this victory, it was them constantly working.
“I don’t even remember that. It was all too chaotic,” Saenz said. “I thought we started strong but just let it go and we knew we all had to come together. Unity is important to us — it’s a team sport. Memorial was a great game to put us together.”
The two long runs to win sets three and four were key, especially considering last Saturday against Pioneer, the Bulldogs could only muster five runs of more than two points and the largest was a three-point run.
Saturday, Sharian Ruiz ended the match with a serve to the corner where both teams celebrated – Memorial claiming the serve was out, McHi believing the opposite. Ruiz earned the ace at the end, her second during that run sandwiched around three Memorial attack errors and two points, including the Saenz one, that were one with gritty play at the net.
Celina Saenz (no relation to Aleah) concluded with third set with a 6-0 run, claiming an ace during that span and getting a huge double block from Shiela Zamora and Ada Sadlier.
Each team has some key district battles remaining. McHi will play at Sharyland on Oct. 23 with possibly the fourth and final postseason spot on the line. Memorial travels to Rowe on Oct. 23 and then hosts Sharyland Pioneer that potentially, will be for the District 31-5A title and a top seed in the postseason.