Lady Falcons Advance to Regional Semifinals

SAN ANTONIO BOUND!  LADY FALCONS CHARGE INTO SWEET 16

by Wade Sales

HARLINGEN—In a thrilling rematch of last year’s Regional Quarterfinal matchup, the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons traded points with the McAllen Rowe Lady Warriors until only one team was left standing. Los Fresnos avenged their ouster from the playoffs last year with an exciting 25-23, 16-25, 31-29, 25-16, 15-12 five-set victory before a packed house at the Harlingen South gymnasium. The victory advances the Lady Falcons to the Regional Tournament for only the second time in the program’s history, where they will match up with defending State Runner-up, San Antonio Churchill on November 14.

Los Fresnos and Rowe put on a powerful display of team volleyball, befitting two of the top programs in the Valley. Rowe jumped out to a commanding 9-3 lead in the opening set behind some smart play by Mayda Garcia, their superb outside hitter, as well as some early-match jitters from the Lady Falcons. Los Fresnos got back on track behind the serving of Jordan Martinez and hitting of Joseline Caraveo, which brought the match back to even at 11. The teams traded rallies, until the Lady Falcons were able to close out the first set with a narrow 25-23 win. The teams stayed close until the midpoint of the second set, when the Lady Warriors took advantage of some defensive errors in Lady Falcon back row to win three points in a row and stretch out their lead to five points at 20-15. That seemed to break the spirit of the Lady Falcons, as Rowe rolled to an easy 25-16 victory in set 2.

The split sets led to the most thrilling set of the year for either team. Both teams dug in, knowing how critical the third set would be in winning the match. Again, the Lady Falcons started slow, falling behind by three points at 6-3. But kills by Alex Cano and Jackie Kingsbury brought the Lady Falcons back to a tie score at 10-10. Two blocks by Sam Ibarra and a kill by Peyton Sales gave the Lady Falcons a late lead, but two kills in a row by Rowe’s Garcia tied the game at 18. Sales set up Ibarra for a huge kill down the right line, finally giving the Lady Falcons a set point, 24-22. Again, Rowe responded with a run of three straight points to get their own set point at 25-24. The tension ratcheted up another notch, when the teams kept getting set points and then saving them. The Lady Falcons narrowly missed closing out the set at 28-27 when a spike by Ibarra was called out by the line judge. Rowe took advantage of that break and won the following point on another kill by Garcia.

Down 29-28, the Lady Falcons faced their most crucial point of their season. The Rowe serve was picked up beautifully by libero Alex Moya, passed to Miranda Gonzales, who back-set the ball to Sales on the right side. Sales smashed it down the line off the block to tie the score at 29. The Lady Falcons had new life, and after Cano and Ibarra pounded tremendous, un-returnable kills on the following two points, the Lady Falcons had a 31-29 third-set victory to go up two sets to one.

The problem for the Lady Falcons was that it takes three sets to win the match. An emotional let-down for Los Fresnos followed the exhausting third set, with the Lady Warriors methodically putting away balls, returning kill attempts with great defense, and making very few errors. Rowe showed why they were Sweet 16 participants last year, and they cruised to another easy 25-16 victory. Rowe kept that momentum going into the final, deciding fifth set. Taking advantage of three return errors by the Lady Falcons, the Lady Warriors shot out to a 6-0 lead, only 9 points away from advancing to the next round. It was then that the Lady Falcons rallied, thrilling the large Falcon crowd in attendance with their comeback. Sales chipped in 5 assists in the next 8 points, spreading those kills to Kingsbury, Ibarra, Caraveo, and Cano. The Lady Falcons took their first lead of the ultimate set at 8-7 and never looked back. The Lady Warriors were clearly rattled as the Lady Falcons poured it on, with two more hitting errors by Rowe increasing the lead for Los Fresnos to 14-10. Rowe made one final push to close the gap to 14-12, but Caraveo floated a ball over the block into an open spot to clinch the victory for the Lady Falcons. The gym exploded in sound, as the team gathered in a quick joyous celebratory group hug before shaking hands with the tough Lady Warriors.

Caraveo led the team with 18 punishing kills, while Ibarra dominated at the net with 15 kills and 6 blocks. Kingsbury chipped in 11 beautiful spikes from the outside hitter position, while Cano and Sales contributed 9 and 6 more kills, respectively. Alex Moya anchored the back line defense once again, thwarting the big hitters of Rowe with 24 amazing digs, while her back row mate Cristen Lumbreras helped out with 11 digs of her own. Sales had another all-around fine performance, with 33 big assists to all parts of the court and 3 big blocks, to go along with her 6 kills from the right side.

Earlier in the week, the Lady Falcons had beaten McAllen Memorial in the second round of the playoffs in 4 tough sets in front of another packed gym in Los Fresnos. The fan support has been amazing from the community. Kingsbury, Ibarra and Caraveo again dominated play at the net with a combined 40 kills, and Sales provided another 31 assists to add to her growing season total.

The Lady Falcons improve their season record to 37-10 overall record, and now can boast of a 32-6A district co-championship, a Bi-District Championship, an Area Championship, and now a huge Regional Quarterfinal victory sending them to the Region IV Tournament in San Antonio for only the second time in school history. They will face San Antonio Churchill (37-7), the defending 6A State Runner-Up, in the Round of the Sweet Sixteen, on Friday, November 14th, at 6pm at the San Antonio Alamo Convocation Center. So, clear your schedule, book those hotel rooms, and come enjoy the Riverwalk and watch your Lady Falcons make history!