LADY FALCONS DOMINATE WESLACO AFTER AVENGING EARLIER LOSS TO BROWSVILLE VETS

by Wade Sales

LOS FRESNOS—The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons entered the UIL State Volleyball Playoffs on a roll, and the Weslaco Lady Panthers were the unfortunate party to get in the way on November 4th. The first round match-up of the #1 seed from District 32-6A and the 4th place finisher from 31-6A was not expected to be close, and the Lady Falcons made sure the home crowd went home satisfied, with a dominating 25-13, 25-16, 25-14 straight set victory. This match came after securing the #1 seed by destroying the Lady Chargers from Brownsville Veterans the previous weekend, 25-14, 25-19, 25-9.

There had been discussions from the Brownsville Veterans coach that the seeding might be decided by a coin flip, as has been done the year before, but the Lady Falcons coaching staff wanted to settle the seeding on the court. In response, the Lady Chargers rested some of their starters during the match, while the Lady Falcons showed the home crowd a superb display of team volleyball, beating the Lady Chargers for the 3rd time in 4 meetings this season. The Lady Falcons were led by Juniors, Sam Ibarra and Joseline Caraveo, who controlled the net and led the team with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Jackie Kingsbury added an additional 7 kills and 2 blocks. Peyton Sales chipped in 17 assists to go with her 2 blocks, and Alex Moya anchored the backline with another 19 digs to add to her team-leading total. The Lady Falcons ended their regular season with an overall record of 34-10.

All this work during the off-season, the regular season, and those many hours of grueling practices have led to this…the playoffs. By virtue of their #1 seed, the Lady Falcons were rewarded by facing the #4 seed from 31-6A, the Weslaco Lady Panthers, making a return to the playoffs after a 5-year absence. In front of an excited home crowd, both teams came out a bit jittery, making defensive errors and trading points. After an early 3-3 tie in Set #1, the Lady Falcons went on a roll behind the serving prowess of Jordan Martinez and Kingsbury, winning 13 of the next 14 points and blowing the first set wide open. The Lady Falcons cruised to a 25-13 first set victory, with Sales and Miranda Gonzales each dishing out 8 assists, and Sam Ibarra contributing 6 kills in the opening set.

It was more of the same in Sets 2 and 3, as Sales added to her team-high 26 assists, distributing the ball to Caraveo, Martinez, Kingsbury, and Alex Cano, all of whom tallied more than 5 kills each in the last two sets. Weslaco was on their heels all night, playing good defense and contributing to long rallies, but were simply unable to mount much of an offensive attack throughout the match. The Lady Falcons poured it on and finished with a flourish, cruising to a solid straight-set victory and moving on to the second round.

The Lady Falcons now have a season record of 35-10 overall record, a 32-6A district co-championship, and a Bi-District Championship. In addition, the Lady Falcons won the coin flip for the third week in a row and will host the Second Round matchup against 30-6A foe, McAllen Memorial, on Thursday, November 6th, at 7pm in the Los Fresnos High School Gym. Come support the Lady Falcons and cheer them on to more playoff victories!