Lady Hawks stun Sharyland in area round

HARLINGEN — With several alumni on hand to witness Harlingen South’s Class 5A area match against No. 2 Sharyland, the unranked Lady Hawks wanted to make sure past Lady Hawks knew the South volleyball program was in good hands.

After dropping the first game, South shocked the Lady Rattlers reeling off three straight wins and a huge upset win against Sharyland, 22-25, 26-24, 25-16 and 25-19 at Harlingen South on Friday afternoon.

South will now play Los Fresnos in the regional quarterfinals at a time and date to be determined today.

"We knew there were some former players at the game and we didn’t want to let them down," senior setter Jenny Duran said, "We wanted them to know that we carry this program and its tradition in out hearts."

First-year head coach Lupe Garza, a longtime assistant at South, won her second career playoff match.

Despite a lean returning class and her being a first-year head coach, Garza knew all along that the Lady Hawks could win big matches.

They just had to believe.

"We told them, everyone believes you can win, now you have to believe in yourselves," Garza said. "And today, they believed in themselves. That was the difference and words can’t express how I’m feeling right now.

Despite losing the first one, South (22-7) pressed on. The Lady Hawks lingered around in the first game but couldn’t find the hits to finish off the Lady Rattlers. South came out hitting and got some big kills on the bigger Sharyland squad. But the Lady Rattlers fought on to a 25-22 win the opening set.

The second game was more of the same from the Lady Hawks.

South built a 7-4 lead in the second game but saw it turn into a 9-7 deficit behind some solid serving by the Lady Rattlers’ Laura Eberly, who recorded three aces in that stretch.

Sharyland’s lead eventually stretched to 16-14 but the never-say-die Lady Hawks rallied behind some hard hitting and won a nailbiter, 26-24.

South carried that momentum into the all-important third game and raced out to a 6-1 early lead.

Sharyland eventually tied it at eight but after South broke serve to lead 11-10, the Lady Hawks scored seven straight point with Stephanie Lugo on serve to take a commanding 18-10 lead.

The Lady Rattlers tried to rally but South was too hot at that point.

And again, it carried that momentum into the fourth game.

South raced out in front again this time taking a 17-9 lead. In the game, Duran did a great job of disguising her sets and turning them into dinks. She’d attempted the same earlier but they weren’t falling. By the fourth game, everything was falling for the Lady Hawks, who came away with the improbable win.

"We told them, go on top four or five points and you’ll win this," Garza said, "I think we were tight at the beginning but w came around."

From the start, South was aggressive with their attack and on the block.

Ronnie Garcia led the team with 25 kills, including that match-winner. Doryann Perez added 15 kills and Sydney Herrera had only six. But Herrera added 10 blocks on defense to stymie the Sharyland hitters.