By BRIAN ARGABRIGHT
The 830 Times
For the second week in a row, the Queens volleyball team suffered a serious loss to its roster.
Queens outside hitter Karolina Alderete suffered a serious ankle injury during the fourth set of Saturday’s match between the Del Rio Queens and visiting Laredo LBJ Lady Wolves.
With Del Rio up 14-12, Alderete tracked the ball near the right side of the net when she crumpled to the floor and immediately grabbed at her ankle, crying out in pain. Trainers and coaches immediately ran to Alderete’s side to tend to her and her injury. While a wheelchair was brought out to aid her off the court, she instead chose to use assistance from her father and athletic director Frenchey McCrea Jr. to exit the court for further medical evaluation.
The previous Saturday, the Queens lost libero Angela Mijares to a lower body injury in a loss to Eagle Pass that closed out the first half of district play.
The match against LBJ was Del Rio’s first match of the second half of district. The Queens would fall to LBJ in four games – 21-25, 16-25, 27-25, 22-25. The loss drops the Queens to 12-16 overall and 0-7 in District 30-6A.
Prior to her injury, Alderete was a key part of Del Rio’s attack against LBJ. After she hammered home a kill to stop LBJ early on, she delivered an ace to cut the LBJ lead to 7-5. The lead grew to 13-7 before a Bertha Faz kill and an ace off a Tatum Koehler serve helped the Queens slow LBJ again.
Del Rio would cut the first game deficit to 22-19 off four points from Syann Casillas and another Faz kill, but the Queens could get no closer.
In the second set, Del Rio jumped out a 5-2 lead thanks to a pair of Alderete kills, but LBJ regrouped and tied the match at 6-6.
The Lady Wolves would take control and pushed the lead to 11-7 before a dig by Belinda Torres turned into a point for the Queens to make it 11-8. But that was as close as the Queens could get as LBJ outscored Del Rio 14-8 down the stretch.
LBJ started the third game strong, building a 5-0 lead before the Queens scored three straight points. The lead climbed to 10-5 for the Lady Wolves, but then the Queens began to turn up the pressure.
Spurred by a boisterous student section, led by several Rams football players, the Queens chipped away at the LBJ lead. Kylie Ramirez delivered a big block and then followed that with a kill to keep the deficit at three.
An ace by Torres cut the lead to 21-19, then another Faz kill and a point off Kailani Goodspeed’s serve found the Queens down by just one, 23-22.
When LBJ earned match point, that’s when the Queens stepped their game up one more notch.
Del Rio tied the game at 24-24 before LBJ pulled ahead. Then Ramirez hammered another kill to tie the game at 25-25. After an LBJ attempt to deke the ball just over the net failed to give the Queens game point, Faz slammed home the winning point to bring a roar from the fans and cheers from her teammates.
The fourth game started slowly for Del Rio as LBJ grabbed a 4-0 lead, but the Queens wouldn’t go away.
Back-to-back kills by Ramirez and Alderete and a big block by the duo of Iva Garabedian and Faz brought the Queens back to within one, 7-6.
Del Rio eventually tied the game at 10-10 thanks to a diving save by Koehler. Then the Queens took a 12-11 lead due in part to a Yuridia Muñiz kill. Del Rio would hold onto the lead even after Alderete’s injury as a Lilliana DeLaO kill made it a 15-13 game.
Del Rio’s lead would grow to three, 20-17, before small mistakes and a tenacious LBJ attack saw the Lady Wolves rattle off four straight points to reclaim the lead at 21-20. Carlamarina Fuentes served up an ace to give the Queens late hope at 24-22, but LBJ ended things with a kill to take the match, 3-1.
The Queens were scheduled to travel to Laredo to face district leaders Laredo United Tuesday. Del Rio’s next home match will be Saturday, Oct. 16, when they host Laredo Nixon at 1 p.m. at the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
