BROWNSVILLE — The first Brownsville ISD volleyball tournament gave Metro-area teams the chance to flex their muscles, and no team did so more definitively than Brownsville Rivera.
The Lady Raiders swept the Brownsville Pace Lady Vikings 25-17, 25-22 in the gold bracket championship match to claim the tournament title and bragging rights as the best team in Brownsville.
“It feels awesome. The girls played really great. I’m really proud of them,” Rivera coach Mary Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. “They really stepped it up today. I knew Pace was a really good team, and I knew it was going to be tough. … Right away, they started playing really hard. They did a really awesome job. They did not let it get away from them.”
Pace and Rivera entered championship Saturday as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, following two days of undefeated pool play, and both received first-round byes in the bracket.
The Lady Vikings battled with Brownsville Veterans Memorial in a back-and-forth semifinal, coming from behind during the deciding third set to take a 25-19, 17-25, 15-13 victory.
The Lady Raiders faced Brownsville Hanna in their semifinal after the Lady Eagles beat Brownsville Lopez. Hanna took the opening set 25-22, but Rivera bounced back to take the next two 25-13 and 15-5.
Led by the power swing of outside hitter Kenya Ibarra, Rivera quickly took control of the championship match against Pace, opening a 13-5 lead following an Ibarra ace. But the Lady Vikings didn’t go down quietly. They battled back thanks to improved passing and the hitting prowess of Ashley Gonzalez, forcing Rivera to call a timeout with the lead trimmed to 21-17.
The Lady Raiders responded with a 4-0 run to close out the first set. Emily Morales and Kimberly Chavez contributed to the attack that kept the Pace defense off-balance in the opener.
“They started the first set super flat. We had a good game against Vets, and I think they just got too confident in this last game,” Pace coach Daya Venegas said. “But we learned. We still have a lot to work on. … I have seen a lot of improvement in these three weeks, and we’re just going to keep going up from here. Overall, I’m happy with their performance today and the whole weekend.”
The second set was much more competitive. Andie Lozano-Lomeli, Natalisha Torres and Gonzalez sparked the improved effort by Pace with stellar play at the net. Lozano-Lomeli and Torres got up for blocks and disrupted Rivera’s hitters, and the back row was active and covered the court well. The teams carried long rallies and swapped scores to sit tied at 14 midway through the set.
“They started coming on the block and taking away the shots we wanted to hit, and the girls were smart enough to start moving the ball around,” Avelar-Guerra said. “I told them, ‘You got to look for what’s open. They’re not going to give it to you. You have to fight for it.’ I’m really proud of them that they had the courage to do that.”
Rivera’s smart hitting was the key needed to pull away. Lady Raiders setter Clarissa Olivares used all of her pins and Ibarra, Morales and Alondra Garza did well to mix up their attacks, pulling the ball down the line or pushing it to a deep corner to get ahead of Pace’s active defense.
The Lady Vikings spoiled two match points, but Ibarra clinched the title with a kill down the line from the opposite pin.
“I think we all came together at a good time, and we pushed through and came out with a win. It felt really good,” Ibarra said. “I feel that all my performance comes from my teammates. Everybody pushes me, everybody brings me up. I wouldn’t be anything without the coach and my girls.”
Brownsville Veterans defeated Hanna 25-13, 17-25, 15-11 in the third-place match. Lopez swept San Perlita 25-17, 25-15 to ensure the top five teams in the tournament were from Brownsville.
“That’s great for Brownsville,” Avelar-Guerra said. “I think Brownsville has really good, competitive teams this year. There’s a lot of good athletes, and they play really hard. All of them play with their hearts, they play all out.”
Another team from Brownsville that shined this weekend was the St. Joseph Lady Bloodhounds, who won the Port Isabel “Volley at the Beach” tournament. They defeated San Isidro in the championship match, 25-17, 25-20.
“They were pretty excited about it. We were the top seed and we stayed in that top spot, which I was really proud of them for finishing that way. We really played aggressive all the way through,” SJA coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino said.
SJA was undefeated in pool play Thursday, defeating Rio Hondo (25-16, 26-24), Santa Rosa (25-5, 25-9) and Brownsville IDEA Riverview (25-18, 25-8) to earn the top seed out of eight teams. They beat Port Isabel JV (25-7, 25-3) and Rio Hondo (25-16, 25-16) on Saturday to reach the title game with only seven girls on the roster due to injuries and cross country.
Captain and setter Elise Esparza and three newcomers — Carmina Tijerina, Aryanna Erosa and Zoey Boreis — were some standouts for SJA.
“They’re really jelling, and it’s a really good feeling because there’s three new girls that came into the team that have made a huge, huge difference,” Olguin-Trevino said. “They’ve really come around. I push them, and they just keep working hard. I’m really proud of them and how we’re doing.”
