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Mia Dominguez had some words following PSJA High’s four-set win over Edinburg North: “If you’re going to tell us you’re going to beat us, you better bring it.”
Edinburg North brought it, but “it” lasted just a little more than one set as the Bears claimed a 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-15 victory in a District 31-6A battle Tuesday at PSJA High.
The win clinches at least a share of the district title for the Bears, who have a two-game lead on North, beat the Cougars twice in district and have two matches remaining before the postseason. It’s the third straight district title for PSJA.
Dominguez was unstoppable, collecting a career-high 34 kills to go with 25 digs and four aces. Teammate Julianna Guajardo added 25 kills, and Kamila Figueroa and Aubrey Garza tallied five and four blocks, respectively.
“We need to get our heads out… and we had to bring it,” Dominguez said of the first-set loss. “We can’t start off like that. We can’t give them any more hope. They play hard against us, they hustle and they’re a good team. You can never count them out.”
The victory keeps PSJA High undefeated in district at 8-0, and Edinburg North is 6-2.
“This means a lot, more so for our seniors,” head coach Caroline Cuellar said. “I knew what they could build here and these girls showed it. This is the outcome I believed we would have.
Alexa Carranza added 46 digs and Victoria Gonzalez had 58 assists and 10 digs as the Bears improved to 34-5 with their 12th straight win. Team captain Johanna Montelongo watched as her team started slow then started rolling. Montelongo was injured during the last time the two teams met, at Edinburg North, but is expected to return in some capacity in another week.
Etsel Ramirez led Edinburg North with more than 20 kills and kept the Cougars in the match during the first two sets. Also causing problems was a big double block on the pins, led by middle Maya Espinoza. However, as the Bears adjusted, they started rolling.
“We knew that we needed to keep running plays to make sure we feed out hitters from the middle,” Cuellar said. “Mia stepped up, Karina (Lucio) stepped up on the slides, all the girls stepped up. They have a really good and big block. We needed to move the ball around to get past that block.”
Once Dominguez got on a role, she and Guajarado kept attacking at will. Guajardo found plenty of court with several strong jams down the line and both were successful with roll shots, usually picked up by a strong North defense, but also keeping them out of system quite often.
“If they would get there a little later I would hit the line, if I would see they were actually there I started cutting it,” Dominguez said about her approach to attacking. “I don’t hit cross court that much. It’s easier for me when I can see the block and Maya is a good blocker. I had to switch it up so they wouldn’t know where I would go.”
