By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Watching Del Rio’s libero Angela Mijares told the story of the Queens’ first meeting of the season against Laredo United.
Mijares, whose upper left leg and hip was wrapped in athletic tape and a bandage, was often a target of the Lady Longhorns’ hard-hitting front line. She weathered the storm, often sacrificing her body to dive for the ball to try and keep her team in the match, but United’s strength and experience was too much for she and Del Rio to overcome as the Queens were swept in three games.
United won Saturday’s meeting at the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium 25-14, 25-11, 25-9. The loss drops the Queens to 0-2 in District 30-6A while United improves to 3-0.
The Queens came out strong, rallying in the first game to tie it early at 9-9. United regrouped and eventually stormed ahead, taking an 18-11 lead before the Queens called a timeout to try and right the ship.
The timeout helped as Bertha Faz rose up and delivered a kill to end United’s run. That was followed by an Iva Garabedian kill and Del Rio was suddenly down by just six.
But United outscored the Queens 6-1 down the stretch to close out the first game.
The second game started the way United wanted as the Lady Horns built an 8-2 lead before Del Rio called a timeout. It was another Faz kill that snapped United’s run.
Del Rio didn’t find much success at the net. United’s longer and stronger frontline helped neutralize the Queens’ attack. Even Del Rio’s biggest hitter, Karolina Alderete, saw her big swings stuffed by United’s defenders.
A United ace made it 15-4, but Del Rio was able to again chip away at the Lady Longhorns’ lead with back-to-back kills by Kylie Ramirez and Yulidia Muñiz.
Del Rio couldn’t complete the rally though, and lost the second game.
The third game against started poorly for Del Rio as United jumped out to a 9-2 lead.
Alderete finally broke through, hammering a kill home to stop United ‘s run. She delivered two more big plays following that as she leapt for a block and then ripped off another kill to make it a 12-6 game.
United eventually built its lead to 16-7 before a Del Rio timeout. The Lady Longhorns then closed out the match with a 9-2 run to complete the sweep.
In other district matches, Laredo Alexander (2-0) defeated Laredo United South (1-2), 25-20, 25-21, 25-19; and Eagle Pass (2-1) defeated Laredo Nixon (0-3), 25-16, 25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 15-9. Laredo LBJ had a bye on Saturday.
Del Rio returns to action Tuesday when the Queens travel to Laredo to face the Laredo Nixon Lady Mustangs at 6 p.m.
The Queens’ next home game will be Saturday, Sept. 25, when they host Laredo Alexander at Guys Gym at 1 p.m.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
