All-Metro coach guided Chargers to playoffs without seniors

Motherhood and All-Metro honors would seem to go hand in hand for Brownsville Veterans Memorial volleyball coach Lisa Salazar.

It’s been quite an eventful fall semester of school for Salazar as she will soon give birth to her first child, a boy, after guiding the second-year Lady Chargers, who had no seniors, to the Class 4A state playoffs as the third-place team from District 32-4A behind conference champion Edcouch-Elsa and runner-up Mission Veterans.

For her efforts, Salazar is The Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro Coach of the Year.

At first, the Lady Chargers’ coach was a little reluctant to have a photo taken to go with the story about her All-Metro selection.

“I’m eight months pregnant,” she said. “I don’t know about a photo. Maybe you can just take a photo of me from the shoulders up or something.”

After giving her selection some additional thought, Salazar said, “It’s a surprise to win this award. I feel honored to receive it and honored to have the athletes who worked so hard. I’m thankful for the support of my family and for the help of my coaching staff. It’s just a great feeling.”

After winning just a few matches during the team’s inaugural 2010 season, the Lady Chargers went 19-8 and 11-7 in 32-4A this season.

“Last year was rough — there weren’t too many wins,” Salazar said. “But I knew the girls could do it this year. These girls fought and came from behind (to win). They weren’t scared. They could pull it out. We had a lot of five-game matches. The chase (for the playoffs) went down to the end.”

Some of the Lady Chargers’ top players included Priscilla Marquez, Kellie Rodriguez, Jasmine Flores, Kassan-dra Silva and Clarisa Chavez.

Salazar played volleyball under veteran coach Liz Avelar-Guerra before graduating from Rivera in 1999. She played volleyball and softball at McPherson College in Kansas before getting her college degree in 2004. Salazar returned to Rivera as a coaching assistant under Avelar-Guerra from 2005 to 2008. She then got out of coaching and moved to Houston for a little more than one year before being hired as a head coach for the first time when Brownsville Veterans opened in 2010.

She said the success of this season definitely will help the Lady Chargers in the future.

“Next year is looking very good,” Salazar said. “There’s going to be a lot of competition on the team (for the starting spots). Things are looking really good.”

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.