MISSION — The Harlingen High Lady Cardinals picked up an impressive road victory over Sharyland High on Tuesday.
The Lady Cardinals (21-4) are seasoned and confident after three weeks of tournament play in which they won one gold and two silver bracket titles. All the tournament reps got them ready for the marquee non-district match against the Lady Rattlers, ranked No. 20 in Class 5A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association.
Harlingen High swept Sharyland High 25-23, 25-21, 25-17. Lady Cardinals coach Joslynn Torres knew it was going to be a tough match and was pleased to see her team demonstrate “Cardinal volleyball.”
“We’ve been focused a lot on, ‘Let’s play Cardinal volleyball,’ and that’s exactly what we did,” Torres said. “We don’t care what’s on the other side. What we care about is what’s happening on (our side). The light bulb turned on with these girls. It’s just believing in themselves, knowing what they are truly capable of. It’s really, truly starting to shine through. I’m loving it.”
Harlingen High’s hitters and setter had some struggles with timing throughout the match. Torres said with such particular pins and the big variations in height and approach, setter Juliana Valdez had a tough task with delivering precise sets. She commended Valdez for being an open communicator and directing the range of attack to the tune of 39 assists.
Even with the timing off, the Lady Cards’ hitters made things happen with smart plays at the net. They landed tips behind blockers and pushed the ball deep to open holes to get on the board. Casey Vidal and Juli Bryant were the top Harlingen High attackers, recording 16 and 14 kills, respectively.
“That’s a huge thing we’re going through right now, our timing and our chemistry. Kudos to our setter. It’s difficult to be a setter. You literally have to set it right where they need it in order to time it well, and she has to do a different tempo for each person. We’re working on it daily, and it’s coming along with communication,” Torres said.
Sharyland High opened the first set on a 4-0 run behind America Hernandez’s serve. Attack errors gave some points back, but the Lady Rattlers settled in and extended their lead to six points. Kassandra De la Garza, Kenisha Martinez, Nicole Cavazos and Hernandez kept them in control early, headlining a well-balanced attack.
“I think we started off really good, real aggressive, and then we started tipping and roll-shotting and just playing safe. That’s all the energy that Harlingen High needed. They built momentum from there and didn’t look back,” Lady Rattlers coach Raul Castillo said.
Vidal’s never-ending energy on the court sparked a Lady Cards comeback to a 15-15 tie. Then, Bryant took over. She blasted hits through the block and read the court to place tips to give Harlingen High its first lead. Libero Elena Aguinaga (22 digs) was relentless in the back and executed a textbook pancake dig in a crucial rally to seal the tight set.
“It doesn’t matter what it looks like (on the scoreboard), because once it looks like what we want it to (on the court), the score takes care of itself. That’s what we’re stressing. We proved that, and the more we prove it the more we believe it, and that’s where the consistency comes from,” Torres said.
The script was flipped during the second set, with Harlingen High taking an early advantage before seeing Sharyland High come roaring back. The Lady Rattlers were tough at the service line to get Harlingen High out of system, and they took advantage of weak hits and free balls with their bevy of hitters.
Powerful swings from both teams caused a number of digs to ricochet off the beams on Sharyland High’s gym ceiling. As the teams scrambled to combat the issues, players on each side were called for double contacts and getting into the net.
With the second set tied at 19, Sharyland High and Harlingen High’s play went in opposite directions. The Lady Cards, led by Vidal and Aaliyah Gomez at the net, pushed the gas, and the Lady Rattlers started to play a bit too safe and fell behind 2-0 in the match.
Unforced errors and a lack of continuity sunk Sharyland High during the third set. The Lady Rattlers struggled to cover the court and inconsistent passing led to playing out of system, resulting in the powerful swings disappearing as the match went on in lieu of tips and free balls. Castillo said letting up on the serving and hitting as they tried to play safe was the nail in the Lady Rattlers’ coffin.
“You got to go out there and play all out. You can’t hold back against a team that has talent,” Castillo said. “Our serves weren’t where they were supposed to be. We’re normally a tougher serving team, and we didn’t do that. We had it at the beginning, then we let up on that. We let up on hitting, started playing it safe. You can’t win playing not to lose. You have to play to win.”