Sharyland High downs McHi in Poundfest championship

McALLEN — After Sharyland High lost to PSJA during the first day of pool play at the 17th annual McAllen High Pound Fest volleyball tournament, head coach Raul Castillo had “the talk” with the defending District 31-5A champions and UIL Class 5A Sweet 16 team.

“There’s never a good loss but it wakes you up,” Castillo said. “Nobody’s scared of you. Who are you? We all have something to show and we all have something to prove.

“I’ve been telling them if you want to win big games and you feel butterflies, you feel nervous, it’s normal. You want to be in those situations. That’s a good feeling, not a bad feeling.”

The message hit home and the Rattlers (9-1) rolled through the rest of the tournament, winning the championship with a 25-23, 25-17 sweep over an upstart McHi team Saturday at McAllen High School.

Kassandra De La Garza had a monster performance attacking, setting and diving ruthlessly for multiple saves to help the Rattlers pull away late during both sets.

“She gives us matchup that we like and we know what she can do. She’s her own player and she can put the ball down as strong as Kenisha (Martinez), she just needs to want to do it,” Castillo said. “It’s time for her to take more credit and step up and get involved like that.”

The junior right side hitter finished the day with nine kills and nine assists, many of those going to teammate, classmate and last season’s RGVSports.com Player of the Year, Kenisha Martinez, who led Sharyland with 15 kills and three aces, two of those aces coming to set up match point.

“For the past two years, Pound Fest has been a terrible experience for me but this year it changed,” De La Garza said. “I knew I had to try and make up for the past two years.”

The teams were tied six times in the first set by 8-8. Then McHi, behind a pair of kills from Katherine Williamson took a two-point lead. The teams tied again at each point between 17 and 23 before De La Garza tipped a ball and Pamela Peña followed it with another tip to end the first set.

“We cannot get cocky,” De La Garza said. “Just because we won district last year doesn’t mean we’re gong to win district this year. We have to play together and bring the same energy we had last year.”

The teams were tied again in the second set, for the final time at 14, before Sharyland went on a 5-0 run with Ashlyn Garcia serving. During the run, Martinez registered a kill down the line, a point on a roll shot to the middle and Barbara Peña also collected a block. The Bulldogs couldn’t close the gap and Sharyland clinched the victory.

“I think we came together as a team,” Martinez said. “We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day we had more ups than downs. I think it’s going to be a pretty good season. Teams are going to want to take our position in district but we’re not going to stop and we will keep pushing to keep that top spot.”