By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
After a season’s worth of matches, fighting through injuries and overcoming one obstacle after another, the Queens volleyball season comes down to tonight’s match at Eagle Pass.
As of Tuesday morning, Del Rio was still in need of just one win to guarantee a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2017. Del Rio can still qualify for the postseason with a loss tonight at Eagle Pass (1-8), but they’d need some help to do so.
Tonight’s match at Eagle Pass starts at 7 p.m. for the varsity Queens.
There are two scenarios for Del Rio to automatically get into the playoffs.
The Queens would automatically qualify with a win over Eagle Pass. That would put Del Rio at 4-6 in district play and would assure them of one of the final two spots. They could still end up tied with Laredo United South (3-6), but they’d at least be in with seeding to be determined later.
The Queens would also qualify with a United South win over Laredo LBJ (2-7). If South wins and Del Rio wins, then there would have to be a tiebreaker to determine seeding since the teams split the season series. If South wins and Del Rio loses, then South gets the third seed and the Queens would be the fourth seed, but Del Rio would still be in the playoffs.
If Del Rio loses and South loses, then there would be a three-way tie for third in the district between Del Rio, South and LBJ. That would result in a mini-tournament in which only two of those teams would advance, and Del Rio wouldn’t necessarily be one of those two.
Laredo United (9-0) and Laredo Alexander (8-1) are already in. They’ll face off tonight with the district title looming. If United wins, they’ll claim the title outright. If Alexander wins, then there will be co-district champions and a tiebreaker will be needed to determine seeding for the playoffs.
Del Rio’s last match on Saturday was a four-set loss to Alexander, 18-25, 25-11, 25-17, 25-9. The Queens opened strong, taking the first set, but an injury to senior Karolina Alderete took the wind out of the team’s sails and gave Alexander the opening they needed to roll off three straight set wins.
Queens head coach Angelica Rivera is hopeful Alderete, who is one of Del Rio’s leaders in kills, can play tonight against Eagle Pass, but added the Queens also practiced Monday as if she couldn’t compete.
Against Alexander, Yuri Muñiz led the team with 12 kills followed by Kylie Ramirez’s eight and Alderete and Jazira Cuenca’s five each. Syann Casillas had 25 assists while Iva Garabedian added five, and Casillas tied with Angela Mijares for the team high in digs with 16 digs. Sherlyn Estrada had 11 digs and Valeria Galindo had 10.
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