Three-Peat Dreams
Lady Rattlers keep pace with McHi in district
Four years is a long time to be consistently outstanding at something. That’s 1,460 days of excellence. It’s a lifetime of greatness for most. The Sharyland Lady Rattlers volleyball team is on one of those four-year runs. Their Tuesday night four-set victory over the Edinburg Vela Lady Sabercats volleyball team was the one hundred and fifty-third time in the last four years a volleyball team tried to stop that greatness and failed.
The Lady Rattlers defeated the now fourth-place Lady Sabercats (28-10,8-6) by final scores of 25-20, 25-19, and 25-18 while only losing one set by a score of 25-20. Their Parent’s Night victory was their eleventh consecutive win in district play and fourteenth in fifteen games. They are 153-24 over the last four years and are two matches away from winning at least a share of their third consecutive district championship. At 35-3 overall and 13-1 in district, the Lady Rattlers are once again atop the elite of RGV volleyball.
Their September matchup with the Lady Sabercats was a grueling, five-set duel. They escaped Edinburg with a win thanks to a 15-12 fifth-set masterpiece. Tuesday night was a crucial game for both teams. Like the Lady Rattlers, the Lady Sabercats needed to win to keep pace with the Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks for third place in District 31-5A.
So, it wasn’t surprising when the Lady Sabercats came out swinging in the game’s first two sets. They fought tooth and nail behind brilliant efforts from sophomore hitter Madeleine Luedeker, junior setter Lauren Hanson, and middle Savanah Rivera. In the third set, the trio’s collective strength carried the Lady Sabercats to a victory. Yet, mighty as their effort was, the Lady Rattlers’ fearsome foursome was too much to handle. Although they won, they felt the third set was a good teaching moment.
“We can’t get comfortable; we have to keep playing the way we usually do. A lot of times, my hitters want to swing out and get ready to hit and forget we gotta play defense. So it’s a lot of things we can control, we’re just trying to work on it day by day,” head coach Lydia De Leon said when reflecting on their third set loss.
Hitters Kenisha Martinez, Pamela Pena, Ivana Adame, and setter Kassandra De La Garza have left defenses helpless this year. The quartet has combined for over 1000 kills this season. Combined with freshman setter Jayleen Berlanga, they boast one of the best starting lineups in South Texas volleyball. After using guile and determination to pull away from the Lady Sabercats in the first two sets, the Lady Rattlers bounced back from their set three loss in the fourth in resounding fashion behind their fantastic core to claim the victory.
Senior stars De La Garza and Martinez led the way and capped off their nights with career milestones. De La Garza reached 300 career aces, and Martinez tallied her 2000th kill and 300th ace. Their leadership and clutch playmaking pushed the Lady Rattlers over the top in the pressure-packed finales of sets 1, 2, and 4. The duo has been the driving force behind the Lady Rattlers machine for the past four years.
“They set the standard from the beginning,” De Leon said when asked about the duo’s impact on the Lady Rattlers’ program.
The Lady Rattlers will travel to Alamo tomorrow, where they’ll face the PSJA Memorial Lady Wolverines (1-19, 1-14). Their season will end next Tuesday night at home against the PSJA North Lady Raiders (10-21, 1-12).
If they win those games and McHi does the same, the Lady Rattlers will split the district championship with the Lady Bulldogs. If their foes lose, they’ll be outright champions. Although winning seems to be the custom and not the expectation for Sharyland volleyball, it doesn’t get much better than a three-peat.
“The seniors have worked hard for it. Everyone on the team has worked hard for it. I know it would mean something to them, and it would feel good to keep the tradition rolling,” De Leon said when reflecting on the possibility of a third straight district championship.
Depending on the outcome, the Lady Rattlers could face either the Brownsville Lopez Lady Lobos (26-11,11-5) or the Harlingen South Lady Hawks (21-16, 12-4) in the first round of the playoffs. It’s hard to imagine that the Lady Rattlers won’t seize the opportunity before them, but they know that honor isn’t given; it must be earned.
“It was a good team win…After today’s game, we can look a little further, but we can’t get comfortable,” De Leon said when asked about her team’s playoff projections.
Other Big 7 Playoff contenders:
District 30-5A
Mission Lady Patriots (31-4, 14-0)
Current playoff seed: Top seed; District Champions
Potential Playoff Opponent: Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial (26-13, 7-2) or Gregory Portland (18-27, 7-2)
Remaining Opponents: @ Laredo Cigarroa (12-14, 4-8)
Mission Lady Eagles: (25-7, 11-2)
Current playoff seed and scenario: Second seed; must win out to secure second seed, head-to-head loss vs Palmview puts both teams in a tie for second
Potential Playoff Opponent: Victoria West (29-10, 8-0) or Gregory Portland (18-27, 7-2)
Remaining Opponents: @ Palmview (19-12, 10-3), @ Laredo Cigarroa (12-14, 4-8)
Palmview Lady Lobos (19-12, 10-3)
Current playoff seed: Third seed; must win out to secure a share of second seed; head-to-head win vs Mission puts both teams in a tie for second
Potential Playoff Opponent: Victoria West (29-10, 8-0) or Gregory Portland (18-27, 7-2)
Remaining Opponents: vs Mission (25-7, 11-2), vs Laredo Martin (13-19, 4-10)
District 31-5A
Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks (26-8, 9-5)
Current playoff seed: Third seed
Potential Playoff Opponent: Brownsville Pace Lady Vikings (23-5, 14-2) or Brownsville Rivera Lady Raiders (29-8, 14-2)
Remaining Opponents: @ PSJA Southwest (8-18, 4-9)
