BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville St. Joseph will have to wait another year to celebrate a playoff victory.
The Bloodhounds took a set off Katy St. John XXIII, but the visitors were a little too strong in the 25-17, 15-25, 25-17, 25-12 four-set win Tuesday afternoon in the TAPPS 5A area-round meeting at St. Joseph.
The Lions came to Brownsville with the height advantage and a deep bench. If one hitter missed kill opportunities, head coach Preston Smith had multiple options, and during the third and fourth sets freshman Camila Foreman caught fire against the Bloodhounds.
Brownsville St. Joseph went back and forth with Katy St. John during the third set. Senior Deliany Cortinas and junior Carmina Tijerina were the main threats offensively for the Bloodhounds.
Cortinas finished with 12 kills and Tijerina had 10.
“I think we all did very good, but we missed a lot of stuff in the game,” Cortinas said. “We didn’t look like we hoped I would, but we did our best.”
Cortinas said she thought the team could win after the superb second set.
Tijerina and Cortinas combined for eight kills during the second set, sisters Eva and Clara Frady played great defense and freshmen Meli Avendano, Seanah Mireles and Valeria Puig also were involved offensively and defensively.
“The second set was how I told them they need to play,” Bloodhounds head coach Dolores Olguin-Trevino said. “We came out on fire, capitalized on a lot of stuff and had a big lead, but it has been a roller coaster all season long.
“I told them there is going to come a time where you meet a team that is just as good if not better than you, and you can’t get away with playing on that roller coaster.”
The first set was similar to the third. The Bloodhounds battled with the Lions, but late in the set Katy St. John pulled it out. Lions senior outside hitter Annabelle Lanik gave her team the cushion late in the set with three straight kills.
“We didn’t play to the best of our potential,” Olguin-Trevino said. “We made some major mistakes that we do not normally make, especially in that first set. We missed six serves and we played cautious. I think that was our biggest mistake.”
The Bloodhounds have a bright future. Brownsville St. Joseph has only four seniors on the roster. Nine of the 15 players on the roster are underclassmen.
“We had a great season,” Olguin-Trevino said. “The future looks good for them. We are going to lose a major hitter and two setters. We are going to figure out where we want to go from here.”
