Laura Cavazos and the Sharyland Pioneer volleyball program know how to churn out quality setters similar to how Rolex creates quality watches. Both seem to understand the concept of perfect timing.
Pioneer’s Hailey Botello was a perfect example Saturday afternoon as the Diamondbacks swept all three of their matches, including a 25-19, 25-24 victory (the set was capped at 25) over a quickly improving McAllen Memorial in the finals of the Mission CISD Volleyball Tournament at Mission Veterans High School.
The win improves Pioneer to 12-2 overall while Memorial dropped to 13-3.
Botello, a setter who wasn’t expected to play the position a year ago but got thrown into it after Pioneer lost two setters to injuries prior to the season, looked right at home commanding her troops. She looked especially in charge as a stubborn Mustangs squad refused to give anything away down the stretch in the final set.
Botello used her team’s balanced attack to keep Memorial just enough off-balanced to capture the win. She finished the match with 23 assists and five digs. Three different Diamondbacks tallied six or more kills, led by Scarlet Verjel with nine, Isabella Cano with eight and Itzel Hernandez with six.
“I gathered my team together after every single play and told them they had adjusted to us,” Botello said. “I had been throwing them off in the middle for a while. They started doing some one-timer things that worked and I told the team if the ball drops we’re going to get the next point anyway.”
The second set was tied at 18, 20, 21, 22 and 24. That’s when Hernandez, a sophomore, scored off a quick kill in the middle giving Pioneer a 25-24 victory.
“It’s still early in the season and, despite who we go against, it’s about making us better and fine tuning what we’re doing,” Cavazos said. “We fell maybe a little complacent or just kind of settled. I think we refocused during those final points.”
Botello was named tournament MVP while teammates Florencia Curiel and Cano were named to the all-tournament team. Memorial’s Karly Bazan and Ana Davila were also selected to the all-tourney squad.
“Spreading out our offense is really important and she (Botello) is doing a really good job of that.” Cavazos said. “We’ve been pushing her, especially during the past two tournaments to distribute the ball pretty equally to get them going. Then, once we’ve developed the hot hand to feed them the ball so we can get some points and rallies going. I think she did a great job and the hitters in the front row executed really well.”
Pioneer returns to action Friday and Saturday as they co-host the Sharyland ISD Tournament. The Diamondbacks open District 31-5A play at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3 at home. Memorial will also play Friday and Saturday at the Sharyland Tournament, then opens district play at 7 p.m., Sept. 3 at home against McAllen Rowe.
