More than 150 Hanna and San Benito fans witnessed a fast-paced, high-energy match Tuesday night in which the Lady Eagles extended their undefeated District 32-6A record to 3-0.
Hanna defeated San Benito 18-25, 27-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-7.
“I know the girls played very hard,” San Benito coach Ruby Medina said. “They wanted to win the game. At the very end, they just made some errors that cost them the game, and that’s what I told them. They played as a team; it’s just we couldn’t get the serve received as we needed it to put the ball down.”
The Lady ‘Hounds took the first set in convincing fashion after grabbing the lead early and refusing to let it go.
During the next set, Hanna came back stronger but still did not take the lead.
When it seemed San Benito was one step ahead, the Lady Eagles’ duo of Tabitha Fernandez and Odalys Gonzalez turned things around for Hanna after a late-set kill that sparked a flurry by the Lady Eagles.
Hanna carried over the momentum built in the second set to earn its way to a 25-16 victory in Game 3.
However, the Lady ‘Hounds were not done.
San Benito’s duo of Ariel Garcia and Alysa Naranjo fought through to set up three consecutive kills that put the Lady ‘Hounds up 11-5 early. Soon after, the rest of the team came together to overpower the Lady Eagles and tie the match at 2 after winning the set 25-21.
A key defensive player for San Benito was Ysabel Soria, who finished with seven blocks and one kill.
“We played really good tonight,” Soria said. “That last game, we just had a lot of errors. We were just missing that back-row piece. All we have to do is push ahead and forget about this loss. Yes, we’re going to get them again soon, and we just got to push each other and play as a team.”
Also for San Benito (1-2), Garcia finished with 40 assists, two kills and one block; Naranjo garnered 31 kills, one ace and one dig; Zoe Betancourt tallied nine blocks and two kills; and Sarah Garcia finished with seven digs and two assists.
“It’s a lesson learned from any loss that we take and the girls have to analyze and see what the actual problem was, so we kind of know what we need to work on during practice and prepare for the next match,” Medina said.
The teams kicked the intensity level up a notch the last game, but a pep talk from Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann was enough to motivate the Lady Eagles to a 15-7 win in the last set.
For the Lady Eagles, Fernandez racked up 38 assists, one kill and an ace; Gonzalez finished with 12 kills, three blocks, one dig and an ace; Nataly Davila tallied four blocks and three kills; and Ari Arceneaux garnered eight blocks, three kills, an ace and one dig.
“We pushed really hard after losing the first set,” Gonzalez said. “We really had to come back. We’re glad we won but now, we’re going to face Los Fresnos on Saturday. We’re glad we’re going 3-0 because they might be going undefeated as well.”
Hagemann said both teams played well throughout the game, but he was happy and proud the Lady Eagles powered through in the end.
“It was an awesome volleyball game from both teams, especially the first two sets,” he said. “I told the team, ‘Even if we lose, you guys did well, you played well.’ We just let it ride from there to see what happens.”
The Lady Eagles now focus their attention to another top rival in 32-6A, the Lady Falcons.
“It’s going to be big,” Hagemann said. “I know Los Fresnos is a tremendous team, but we’re going to do our best to surprise people.”
