McALLEN — With a lineup almost completely unrecognizable a season after graduating nine seniors, McAllen High is a squad with an abundance of freshmen and sophomores.
But down the stretch Friday, facing their biggest test of the 16th annual McHi Poundfest tournament, it was senior Kaydence Pritchard who helped push the Bulldogs to an intense 25-22, 30-29 (tournament matches are capped at 30 points) win over a powerful Harlingen squad led by one of the top hitting duos in the Valley with Juli Bryant and Casey Vidal.
Trailing 22-18 during the second set after a 25-22 victory in the first, Pritchard served up five straight points, alternating powerful serves with a tennis-like version of a drop shot, keeping Harlingen receivers off balance and putting the Bulldogs in a 24-22 lead during a match that Bryant and Vidal did everything they could to force a deciding third set.
“She has a great serve that puts people in very uncomfortable situations,” McHi head coach Michael Smith said. “We’ve been able to get to a point with us comfortably letting her rip it. It’s not always about getting aces, but can we put balls in there to make it tough for a lot of teams to pass and get them out of system. Even if the ball isn’t hitting the floor with an ace, her knockout ability and percentage is super high, probably more than 50% today.
It wasn’t enough, however, as McHi went on to go 3-0 on the day and is 6-0 during the first two days heading into today’s championship match. The Bulldogs also swept PSJA High and Brownsville Veterans on Friday.
Scoring off serves proved to be a big advantage for McHi, collecting 21 aces in the three matches compared to opponents tallying just eight, five of those coming in the PSJA matchup.
The top eight teams from the first two days of pool play advance to today’s championship bracket for a single-elimination tournament. In the quarterfinals, Los Fresnos will play PSJA High and Sharyland High will face McAllen Memorial at 9 a.m., and McHi will face Edinburg Vela and Harlingen will battle McAllen Rowe at 10 a.m. All matches will be played at McHi, with the championship scheduled for 2 p.m. Sharyland, Memorial, McHi, Vela and Rowe are all part of District 31-5A.
“I’m sure if Sharyland Pioneer was here, they’d be right there, too,” said Smith, talking about the defending 31-5A district champion. Last year, five 31-5A teams at one point or another were state-ranked. “(Today) is going to be an early look. This district is going to be a dogfight. Nobody is going to go through this unscathed.”
Despite a near-100% new lineup filled with young faces — including five freshmen and three sophomores (two seniors are out with injuries), the Bulldogs may be taller overall than in previous years and on Friday introduced a variety of hitters to their three opponents as Harlingen was the only team to score more kills than the Bulldogs, winning that battle 23-19. Sophomore Katherine Williamson led McHi with 17 kills on the day, followed by freshman lefty Gabby Estringel with 16, and the young guns from McHi outscored opponents 59-52 on kills.
“Gabby has been playing middle all her life, and we’ve asked her to play some right side and do some other things,” Smith said. “Sometimes I forget she’s just 14 years old. These girls are ready. They may be freshmen, but they’ve played a lot of volleyball and at the highest levels.
“My message from Day 1 to all of them has been, ‘Don’t wait, don’t think it may not be your turn,’ I want them to show up and be ready to go. Today, all the girls contributed from different parts of the court. It helps we have different players with different strengths. Some are called on for some things and some come in with other strengths. It’s a process.”
The Bulldogs’ only loss this season came in four sets at Laredo Alexander. Since then, the Bulldogs have reeled off six straight wins during what many expected to be a rebuilding year.
“I don’t know that anybody has told us or the girls that,” Smith said. “These girls are ready.”
