Lady 'Jackets move on; Bruni eliminates La Villa

ZAPATA - Edcouch-Elsa dropped the first game, but rallied to win the next three as the Lady Yellowjackets defeated Laredo Nixon 29-31, 25-18, 25-17, 25-18 on Monday night to advance to the area round of te Class 4A playoffs this weekend.

The Lady 'Jackets (24-7) will meet the winner of the Corpus Christi Ray-Medina Valley match scheduled to be played tonight.

"In that first game we struggled a bit. We couldn't put the ball away," E-E coach Ofelia Griffith said. "So, when the second game started, we started to play the type of volleyball we are used to playing. That's when we gained control of the match."

Marisa Valadez led the way for E-E with 20 assists, 17 kills, 14 digs and three aces followed by Emily Segura (25 assists, four kills), Maribel Bernal (23 kills, two blocks), Amanda Adame (10 blocks, six kills, six aces) and libero Lily Juarez (59 digs, two aces).

"We've been knocked out three years in a row in the first round)," Griffith said. "I think that was one reason for the slow start (Monday night). But after we got that out of our system, the girls responded and put the match away."

BRUNI ELIMINATES LA VILLA

FALFURRIAS - Youth was too much for the La Villa Cardinals on Monday night.

Bruni defeated the Lady Cardinals 25-15, 25-11, 25-11 to win the Class 1A bi-district playoff tilt.

La Villa, which finishes the season 16-10 overall as the third-place finisher in District 32-1A, expects to return nine of 12 players.

"Bruni was just a good team, and it showed out there," said first-year La Villa coach Roy Guerra.

It was La Villa's first trip to the playoffs in three seasons.