By Edward Severn, Special to RGVSports.com
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers swept the Brownsville Lopez Lady Lobos 25-10, 25-17, 25-22 in a district match Tuesday night.
The Lady Chargers are now 2-0 in district play. Despite the 3-0 scoreline, the Lady Lobos were a tough opponent and had their moments in the match.
Both sides traded points early the first set, but Brownsville Veterans went on a 14-1 run to win the set. During the run, junior Katherine Fourt had multiple big kills and was set up often by sophomore Paulina Ramirez.
Lopez came out strong during the second set and opened a 5-1 lead. Kassandra Aguirre and Cielo Chapa scored often for the Lady Lobos in all sets and helped Lopez start the second set strong.
“We started off really slow in every game, and then we would gradually come out,” Lady Chargers coach Elizabeth Mares said. “I think that is something that we really need to work on. We cannot start off like that.
“We are down a couple of players, so we have been experimenting with different lines. So, the girls coming out here getting the sweep is good especially with the all the rotation changes.”
Lady Chargers junior Carrington Love played well throughout the night around the net and scored some big points to get her team back in the second set. Fourt helped capture and maintain the lead for Brownsville Veterans with great play around the net and some pinpoint aces to give the team a 17-11 lead.
“I feel like we could have done a lot better, but we came together as a team at the end and we put down the ball,” Love said. “All of us are close, and we feel like we can be ourselves once we get going.”
The Lady Chargers finished the set with a kill from sophomore Monserrat De los Santos, winning 25-17 and earning a 2-0 lead.
Lopez started the third set strong, going up 5-2 quick. Again, the Lady Chargers regained the lead and did not let it go. Love was good as well sophomore Gracie Avilla, Makayla Lerma and Kassandra Garcia during the final set. Junior Marifer Solis also had good moments when rotating in.
“I think we started off slow all three sets, it took us a while to get everything going and moving, but at the end we executed it and that is all we need,” junior Katherine Fourt said. “We have been working on our mentality, and it is getting better. Every practice we work on how we respond to each other. Our communication is really getting better.”
The Lady Chargers almost let the Lady Lobos back in the game. The elusive match point was finally powered home by Ramirez to finish off the match 25-22.
Brownsville Veterans will hope to stay undefeated in district against Weslaco East on Saturday. Lopez will try to bounce back against Brownsville Pace.
