Not This Time

Los Fresnos and Rivera played another exciting match on Saturday, with the Lady Falcons finishing off the Lady Raiders in four sets 25-17, 29-27, 26-28, 25-15.

The win helped the Lady Falcons (13-8, 8-1

district) stay in control of first place in

District 32-5A, holding the tiebreaker over Hanna.

Heading into the fourth set, the match between Los Fresnos and Rivera (12-11, 5-4 district) was eerily similar to Rivera's five set win against the Falcons earlier this year. Los Fresnos slammed the door on the possibility of losing again, jumping out to a 9-5 lead and pushed their advantage from there.

"We told the girls, ‘Get ahead. Stay ahead.'," Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said. "We didn't need to dig ourselves (into) a hole."

Coach Woods knew the importance of getting ahead as Los Fresnos had already dug themselves out of a hole once. Trailing 19-15 in the second set, Los Fresnos clawed their way back into the game, tying the score at 22. The Lady Falcons continued to extend the game until they finally finished off the Lady Raiders, behind back-to-back kills by sophomore Brooke Kretz (five kills, two blocks, 16 digs).

The glue that kept the Los Fresnos team together was setter Sam Garcia, who moved the ball around on offense, and wound up with 36 assists and 11 digs.

"We really wanted to beat this team," Garcia said. "We got so motivated, we wanted to be 8-1(in district) and beat Rivera since they are the only team that had beaten us."

The junior had a good balance of smart defense, as she was seen diving around the floor to save shots, and aggressive offense, catching the Lady Raiders off guard three times with dinks to open spots on the floor.

Coach Woods stressed the importance of the win afterwards, as she couldn't remember the last time that a Los Fresnos team had won at Rivera.

"As soon as we finished our game with Weslaco, we had the girls focus on Rivera," Woods said. "Rivera never gives up. They will play you until the bitter end. Until the last point is served."

Rivera played Los Fresnos point for point

during the middle two sets, but looked overmatched in the fourth frame, falling behind

20-10 before finally putting some semblance of offense together.

The Lady Raiders were led by the senior tandem of Stephanie Cruz and Roxy Serrano, who combined for 16 kills, but the two were unable to lead another comeback against the Lady Falcons.

"We weren't as aggressive this game," Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. "We just weren't hitting as well this game."