By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s queens of the volleyball court will finally get to play in front of the home fans this week.
The Del Rio High Queens volleyball team hosts Crystal City Tuesday night. The freshmen team and junior varsity team play at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity squad at 6 p.m. in the Carl P. Guys Memorial Gymnasium.
This will be Del Rio’s first home match since the season began Aug. 9 at Sonora. With their top two hitters missing due to COVID and injury, Del Rio dropped the season opener.
From there the team competed in the Edgewood Varsity Tournament in San Antonio. Del Rio played seven matches, going 4-3. The defeated Sam Houston, Kennedy, West Campus and Lytle and lost to South San, Cole and Randolph.
Del Rio took on Carrizo Springs next and came away with a win to up its season record to 5-4.
The Queens’ next tournament was the Nita Vannoy Memorial Tournament in San Angelo. Del Rio won four of its six matches at the tournament to raise its season record 9-6.
At the Vannoy tournament, Del Rio defeated Plainview, Pecos and Andrews. They defeated Plainview twice including a three-set win in the consolation championship game of the tournament’s Bronze Challenger Bracket. The Queens lost to San Angelo Central and Horizon.
On Aug. 23, the Queens traveled to San Antonio to face McCollum.
The match didn’t start well for Del Rio as they dropped the first game, 25-15. But new head coach Angelica Rivera rallied her team and the Queens responded by taking the next three games, 25-23, 25-23, 25-16, to earn Del Rio’s 10th win of the season.
Del Rio lost to McCollum in three sets last season.
“It was an amazing all around effort. Karo (Alderete) had seven serves on the last set,” Rivera said.
Del Rio returns an experienced team from last year’s squad that unfortunately only won one district match. Leading the group is junior Angela Mijares, who was an all-district honorable mention last season. She spent time at libero before a lower leg injury forced her off the court for several matches. She was able to return to finish out the season.
The roster is evenly split with six seniors and six juniors. Aside from Mijares, notable returners include Alderete, who is a senior, as well as seniors Kylie Ramirez and Iva Garabedian and junior Syann Casillas.
Ramirez anchors the team’s front line. She was key in the team’s sole district win last season, a three-game sweep of Laredo Nixon. Alderete is a utility player for the Queens who is able to play everywhere on the court and is one of the Queens stronger servers. Garabedian has a strong court awareness and is one the Queens’ best setters, and Casillas’ defense and all-around athletic ability make her a key piece to Rivera’s lineups.
Fans attending Tuesday’s match are reminded that Del Rio High has a clear bag policy for persons attending events. Tickets for the matches can be purchased through the following link – https://gofan.co/app/school/TX22694
Tickets are $4 for adults 18 and up and $2 for students 5 to 18 years.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
