By Henry Miller
Sep 15, 2021 10:00 AM
MISSION — Jordan Bravo is extremely quiet and unassuming.
She’s definitely an athlete who lets her actions speak for her. That was evident Tuesday night as the Sharyland Pioneer 5-foot-10 senior middle hitter emphatically hammered away three of the final four to lead the Diamondbacks to an intense 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-6 District 31-5A victory over McAllen High in a battle of state-ranked teams.
The match, played in front of a large and at time raucous crowd, took nearly 2.5 hours to complete. After four grueling sets, setter Natalie Reyes opened with a pair of aces, and Bravo finished with a quick kill in the middle, a slide kill and the game-winning kill.
“In the huddle, we were saying first to five, first to 10,” said Bravo, who was The Monitor’s 2020 All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year. “Coach was telling us to keep running me, that three (a zone on the court) was open and to keep transitioning off the net.”
McHi fell to 26-4 on the season, losing twice to both Sharyland Pioneer and McAllen Rowe, who upended the Bulldogs on Saturday. Tuesday’s loss was the first time since the 2015-16 season that McHi lost back-to-back district matches.
McHi came out with a different look, including running a 5-1 scheme compared to most of the season where they ran a 6-2.
“My job is to put these girls in a position to succeed,” first-year head coach Michael Smith said. “We have a talented group of girls and even on Monday at practice, they were ready for some changes and challenges knowing Pioneer was at our game Saturday and saw some so we were offering some different looks.”
This was, by no means a match of “rainbow kills” and soft play. McHi’s “big four” hitters of Celina Saenz, Ada Sadlier, Andrea Tovar and Shiela Zamora traded bombs and blocks with Pioneer’s Bravo, Lorelai Hill, Mariana Treviño, Katie Salazar and Thalia Ochoa. Four of Pioneers hitters finished in double digit kills with Salazar leading the way at 13. Ochoa missed double digits by one with 9.
Lizzy Fina added 52 digs and setter Natalie Reyes had 51 assists, 5 aces, 5 kills, 23 digs and 5 blocks based on stats provided by Pioneer.
As of Wednesday morning, stats were not provided from McAllen High.
Bravo’s kill however, was the difference in a back and forth match where both sides played solid defense and didn’t let up when it came to attacking.
“Sometimes I see the opening especially on my slide if they’re blocking the line or not,” Bravo said. “The middle was usually late to the block on the slide and so the middle was open and usually the straight line is open.
“It was nerve-wracking but we kept confident and encouraging each other and pushing points.
Pioneer improved to 25-2 overall and 2-0 in district play. Going into Tuesday’s match, the Diamondbacks were ranked No. 7 in Monday’s Texas Girls Coaches Association State Volleyball Poll. McAllen Rowe (No. 11), Sharyland High (No. 16) and McHi (No. 17) were also ranked from District 31-5A. McAllen Memorial could also see itself in the poll soon with a 21-10 overall record after a five-set win over Sharyland High on Tuesday.
“We brought it then they brought it back and that’s this district,” Smith said. “There are five teams in this district that will come at you every single night and this was an example of it. In this district you have five teams that would win any other district in the Valley.
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