All-Metro Honors: Outside hitter Villarreal, middle hitter Lozano add to Los Fresnos' haul

Add one more to the list for Gloriana Villarreal.

The Los Fresnos outside hitter, who tallied 369 kills and 266 diggs in what was a historic season for the Lady Falcons, is The Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro Offensive Player of the Year.

“It feels really good,” Villarreal said. “It was a fun year for me, trying to make the most of it.”

The senior was also on RGVSports.com’s All-Valley team and made the first team in District 32-5A, to go with the 36-3 record and regional semifinal appearance that her team piled up in a thrillingly successful season.

A month or so after beating Harlingen South at home to get to San Antonio, where they lost to San Antonio Johnson in straight sets, that experience still stands out.

“I never expected to get as far as we did,” Villarreal said. “It was something to reach for and we did.”

The girls did that, largely in part for their coach, who said something after a tough playoff loss in 2010 that clearly stuck with this group.

“I’m never going to make it to San Antonio,” a dejected Becky Woods said then.

Well, as it turns out, she was wrong. One year later, they are heading north to the regional tournament.

“This has been a very good experience,” Villarreal said. “Los Fresnos was a good school because it challenged me very well and (had) other athletes to get me ready for my dream, which is college ball.”

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

What a year it has been for Debbie Lozano.

First, the Los Fresnos junior middle hitter earned a starting spot she didn’t expect. Then, the Lady Falcons advanced all the way to the regional quarterfinals and had a home match with Harlingen South for the right to go to San Antonio.

But then, during the second game, she planted her leg.

“Like a pop,” Lozano said. “My bone just broke apart.”

With that, Lozano tore her ACL and MCL and was on her way to missing five to six months. She didn’t play in the rest of the game or the ensuing match with San Antonio Johnson, but that was the tail end to what a strong season for her.

With that, Lozano is The Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro Newcomer of the Year.

“I feel happy because I worked so hard for it. I was surprised that I was starting because … I was barely coming up from JV,” Lozano said.

Last year, Lozano broke her finger and missed eight weeks. This year, she lasted the entire season until that eventful regional quarterfinal.

Still, that was one moment that came after countless others. And right now, that’s what she remembers.

“I had a good experience with all the seniors,” Lozano said. “Without the seniors, the fun we had (wouldn’t have happened).”

And unlike those seniors, Lozano will get the chance to do it all again next year — on what she hopes is a fully healed leg.

“Come back stronger than I am right now,” Lozano said. “Work even harder to try to make All-Valley.”

Todd Orodenker covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@ brownsvilleherald.com. Follow him on Twitter @ToddO243.