Volleyball Roundup: Falcons outlast Mustangs in area round

No. 3 Los Fresnos has continued its dominance over Rio Grande Valley foes into the playoffs, defeating McAllen Memorial 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 24-26, 15-7 in a nail-biter Thursday night in Los Fresnos.

"We had to come out and play our game, on our home court and in front of our home crowd," said Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods. "Against a team like this you don’t get a second chance."

The Lady Falcons didn’t need a second chance when their defense stepped up in their times of need late in the game. Los Fresnos was led on offense by Gloriana Villareal, who had 17 kills and an ace.

Middle hitter Avery Danielson also had 14 kills and three blocks for Los Fresnos.

The first set began with an onslaught from the Lady Falcons, as they took an early 11-2 lead with Gloriana Villareal leading the way. Katie Norman helped bring the Memorial back to within striking distance at 20-23 when Los Fresnos started to let mental errors kick in. Bad communication let a ball fall to the ground uncontested, and a Rebekah Vela spike landed in the net on set point to give the Lady Mustangs the 1-0 lead.

Jennifer Kowalski came out of the gates on fire in the second set to put the Lady Mustangs up 15-11, but scouting put Los Fresnos in a position to know what to expect from her. The defense stepped up to stop the Memorial attack and gave way to Villareal, who put the Lady Mustangs away in the second.

After an easy third-set win for the Lady Falcons, the fourth set became a dogfight. No team took more than a two-point lead before Los Fresnos went up late 22-19. Memorial responded when Katie Norman slammed down two kills to give her squad the 26-24 set win.

"We were trying to stay positive and not let anything get to us," Villareal said. "We just had to focus on what we needed to do and accomplish that."

Los Fresnos emerged unstoppable in the fifth set, winning 10 of the last 12 points to take the match and one more step to the regional playoffs. They will play the winner of Saturday’s matchup between McAllen Rowe and PSJA High.

>> Evan Knopp, Special to RGVSports.com

SHINER DEFEATS SAN ISIDRO

At Orange Grove, Shiner proved too powerful for San Isidro in the Class 1A area round Thursday night.

Shiner advances with a 25-7, 25-7, 25-21 victory. All San Isidro coach Trini Garza could say was, “They were coming at us too fast.”

The Tigers finish 19-9 on the season and were tied for second in District 32-1A with San Perlita. San Isidro returned to the playoffs after missing the postseason last season.

“They just had too much power,” Garza said. “It was like playing like a La Feria. We tried but they just had some really good hitters. We played good defense at times but it was not enough.”

Garza said he believes Shiner could compete at the Class 4A level.