Their final daunting task was to face two more monster hitters: Mission Veterans’ Carla Guerrero and Rylie Barnett.
But it was Pioneer’s Lorelai Hill who brought the biggest presence, coming through with the biggest, and loudest, kills when it mattered most in a 25-13, 14-25, 25-16 victory over Patriots en route to the Mission Varsity Volleyball Tournament crown.
“It was about execution in the third set. We didn’t play very well in the second and how we respond is important to us this year,” Pioneer head coach Laura Cavazos said. “Balls are going to fly out of bounds and we will have mistakes so how we respond is important.”
Pioneer clearly had the toughest road to the final. Two of the teams the Diamondbacks faced Friday in pool play — Harlingen High and Edinburg High — won their elimination bracket titles Saturday in the Silver and Bronze categories.
Hill, named to the all-tournament team, had her best match in the biggest one of the day Saturday. She tallied 10 kills to go with two blocks and an ace against Veterans, which has quickly climbed the ranks of top Valley teams, improving at a rapid pace seemingly daily in the early part of the season.
Hill, at 5-foot-7 played every inch as big than much taller hitters throughout the tournament, connecting with setter Natalie Reyes, named tournament MVP, often on quick middle attacks but also on the outside. Hill was also a force at the net defensively, not only with her blocks but also with the number of balls she got her hands on against some pounding attacks.
“It’s all about the timing for me because I am a lot shorter than most people would expect me to be,” Hill said. “I knew they were hitting over us, so I knew if we delayed our timing and went up when they are swinging, we would have a better chance to get a touch or maybe a block and it’s all about the timing.”
Hill set the pace in the tiebreaker set early on with two thunderous attacks left untouched down the line.
“I was really frustrated with how I was playing and everyone said this spot is open and try to kill it there,” Hill said. “So that was what I was going to do. I came in with the mindset of this is what I’m going to do right now and I don’t care about what other plans happen. This is how I’m going to execute it.”
Later in the set tied at 8, Hill and Guerrero trade off blows at the net in an entertaining and intense series. Hill, however, won the battle with back-to-back kills, coming when the game was tied at 10. Pioneer went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-10 advantage.
“Our whole plan is to keep (the opponent) out of system as much as possible,” Cavazos said. “The deeper (the serves) are, the harder it is to stay in system. I thought we executed that in game one and three but our serves were a little difficult in the second.
“Getting Lorelai going was important to our offense. We weren’t moving her around like we should so the way she started in the third played a big part (in that set).
Barnett, however, can be a game changer and kept her team close until Pioneer’s Jordan Bravo and Mariana Treviño paired up with Reyes for a couple of quick middle kills and outside attack as Pioneer pushed its lead with a 10-6 run to claim the championship.
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