DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
One week after opening practice, several Valley volleyball teams got down to business and began the new season on Tuesday, including the Harlingen Lady Cardinals and the Harlingen South Lady Hawks.
Both the Lady Cards and Lady Green Birds entered the 2017 campaign under the direction of new head coaches, and both opened things up with tri-matches.
Harlingen, which is now led by Joslynn Torres, split its matches, beating Sharyland Pioneer then dropping one to Laredo United South.
Standouts for the Lady Red Birds included: outside hitter Kirsten Kattan, who had five kills against Pioneer and another eight vs. United South; outside hitter Yazmine Martinez, who nailed six kills in both matches; libero Julissa Munivez, who had 10 digs vs. Sharyland and 12 against Laredo; and setter Alina Prado, who had 17 total assists.
While the season just began, Torres said she was pleased with what she saw from her team so far.
“We saw a lot of great things last night, but still made a lot of fundamental mistakes that can be fixed,” she said. “Our motto this year is ‘high expectations; no excuses.’”
The Lady Cardinals take their show on the road this weekend to the annual Donna Bravette Tournament, which begins Friday, and then they travel to Edinburg next Tuesday to take on the North Lady Cougars at 7 p.m.
LADY HAWKS: Harlingen South also split its matches on Tuesday, beating Edinburg 3-0 then falling to Mercedes 3-1.
The Lady Hawks are now led by former Weslaco High coach Anissa Lucio, who was also pleased with her squad’s performance, but not too pleased.
“I definitely do like the progress we’ve made, but we’re still looking to get better every day,” she said.
Leading the way Tuesday was: Cameron Del Angel, Annelle Rodriguez, Mikela Mireles, Vanessa Santillan, Mya Aguirre and Zoe Garcia.
As with Harlingen High, South is set to compete at the Donna Tournament this weekend then is at Port Isabel at 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday.
LADY GREYHOUNDS: San Benito got out of the gate quickly, beating La Feria and Brownsville Porter in its season-opening tri-match. Leading the way was Alysa Naranjo, Kayleen Reyes and Crystal Ibarra, who all finished with 15 kills, Sarah Garcia, who had 21 digs vs. La Feria, and Ariel Garcia, who finished the matches with 39 assists.
OTHER RESULTS: The Raymondville Lady Kats beat up on IDEA Frontier 3-0 while the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons fought hard but came up short against Brownsville Hanna 3-1. Finally, defending District 32-6A champion Los Fresnos didn’t miss a beat as the Lady Falcons thumped Sharyland High in straight sets 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.