Calallen grounds Mission High in area round

KINGSVILLE — The Calallen Lady Wildcats proved why they are a state-ranked team as they swept the Mission High Lady Eagles 25-12, 25-9, 25-17 in the regional quarterfinals Saturday in Kingsville.

Mission defeated Kingsville King in bi-district and San Antonio Harlandale in the area round to get to this point in the playoffs. But the Lady Wildcats (37-4) put an end to Mission’s playoff run, simply dominating the Lady Eagles.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more from our team,” Mission High coach Lety Ibarra said. “They hung in there and did what they could.”

In the first game it was apparent that the Lady Wildcats were there to take care of business as they jumped out 12-5 lead early in the match. The Lady Eagles (23-10) did not have an answer to any of the Lady Wildcats’ spikes and were overwhelmed by the dominating strength and size Calallen possessed. The Lady Wildcats never looked back in the 25-12 victory.

The second game was much like the first as the Lady Wildcats used an offensive assault Mission was not used to seeing in the Rio Grande Valley. At one point, Calallen led by as many as 16 points to beat the Lady Eagles 25-9.

“I’ve been waiting for them to play like this the last three or four games,” Calallen coach Lupe Cardona said. “I think Mission played with a lot of heart and I think their enthusiasm feeds off the opponent’s mistakes, and we knew that coming into the game so we had to play our best game to come out with the win today.”

Mission’s Victoria Rojas ended the match with six kills and three blocks. Hook had 12 kills and five assists.

“We came together as a team this year and made it a good season,” Rojas said. “Lots of practice and working together helped us get to this point.”