EDINBURG — Jackie Howell is coming home, and she’s bringing the rest of her Montana Grizzlies volleyball team with her.
The former Mission Veterans volleyball star and the Grizzlies are part of the UTRGV Volleyball Tournament, which runs today and Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
Montana and Prairie View A&M will kick off the event at 2:30 p.m. today followed by UTRGV and Montana at 6:30 p.m. UTRGV will face Prairie View at 11 a.m. Saturday, and UTRGV will play Montana at 2:30 p.m. to close the tourney.
It’s an exciting trip for Howell, who gets to unite friends and teammates from both of her worlds – Missoula, Montana, and the Rio Grande Valley.
“We’re playing more than 2,000 miles away from home this weekend, but thanks to friends and family of (Jackie Howell), we’ll be feeling right at home!” Montana Griz Volleyball tweeted.
“I was kind of nervous when I first found out (UTRGV) was on our schedule,” Howell said. “I was, like, ‘No way, these are my two worlds colliding, and everyone is going to be looking to me. I’m so excited.’”
“I really appreciated it because to play in my hometown is really special to me. The whole city is tight-knit, almost like an extended family. So for so many people to get to come watch, it will just be so exciting,” Howell said on the Montana Griz volleyball site.
According to Montana, “The Grizzlies … might in fact have a home-court advantage. Through the tournament, Montana received a 50-person pass list for its supporters. Six of those tickets went to additional family members making the trip. The other 44 have gone to Howell’s family, with dozens of additional tickets being purchased by family, friends and former coaches.”
Howell is part of the first family of volleyball in South Texas. Her mom, Sonia Trevino, introduced her daughter to the sport and, as a collegiate athlete, played junior college volleyball before playing for Florida State, where the team won two conference titles and earned appearances to the NCAA Tournament twice.
She also has three aunts who played volleyball in college: Diana Lerma (Texas State), Leticia Ibauva (East Texas State) and Gloria Treviño. Lerma and Treviño are the head coaches for Mission Veterans and Edcouch-Elsa, respectively. Several cousins have also dominated headlines on the volleyball court over recent years as well.
Before attending Montana, Howell played her first two years at Tyler Junior College, where she was named All-America honorable mention and was selected to the All-Region XIV, all-conference and all-tournament teams.
Montana is off to its best start in 14 years with a 4-2 record.
“We’re doing better than last year and how we’ve been doing in a while,” said Howell, who is a six-rotation player. “You can tell during our games we are getting better and playing together as a team. And our bench is a lot deeper, so we can scrimmage ourselves.
“I want my teammates to experience the atmosphere and how proud everyone is — my whole family and mom and friends. There is a lot of pride in the Valley and I’m so proud of my home.”
UTRGV is on a hot streak as well. After dropping a heartbreaker to UNLV in five sets to open the season, the Vaqueros have run off seven straight wins and have won 12 of their past 13 sets, sweeping UTSA, North Dakota State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It’s their longest winning streak since winning eight in a row from Oct. 18 through Nov. 19.
