Del Rio News Herald

The seniors on Del Rio High School’s varsity volleyball team went out with a bang Tuesday night.

Behind a strong showing from all six seniors, the Queens defeated the Laredo Martin Lady Tigers in four games to win their second and final District 29-5A match of the 2009-10 season.

Del Rio ends its volleyball season 10-19 overall and 2-12 in district.

Laredo had an early 3-0 lead in game one before Gemetria Williams, playing as a member of the varsity squad in front of the home crowd for the first time all season, rattled off nine consecutive points to put Del Rio ahead 10-3.

Aiding Williams during her run were kills by fellow seniors Tracey Ferguson and Jessica Alvarez and an ace she recorded herself.

Laredo eventually cut the lead to 12-7 before Alvarez picked up a pair of points off serve aided by a kill from Kaitlyn Thomas.

After an Elizabeth Alvarez kill, off an assist from senior Luisa Ybarra, broke Laredo Martin’s serve, Ybarra stepped to the service line and closed out the game with five consecutive points. Jessica Alvarez had a kill and Ybarra had an ace down the stretch as Del Rio won game one, 25-11.

In the second game, it was Del Rio that found itself in an early hole as Laredo opened the game with six consecutive points to take a 6-0 lead.

The lead was 8-1 before a Ferguson kill broke the Lady Tigers’ serve and set up another impressive run by Williams.

When Williams stepped to the service line, the Queens were down by six. By the time her last serve was stopped by the net, the game was tied 9-9. Mistakes by Laredo Martin coupled with kills by Amanda Morales, Ferguson and Jessica Alvarez led to a 7-0 run by the Queens.

The game remained tied until Laredo was able to take advantage of several Del Rio mistakes and pump its lead back up to 15-11.

After the two teams exchanged serves twice, Martin seized control again and scored three more points off serve to increase its lead to 22-14.

Del Rio’s final serve was broken when the ball sailed into the net. That allowed Martin to step up and pick up the final two points and take game two, 25-15.

Game three began slowly as neither team could score of its serve.

It wasn’t until the Queens’ third serve that Del Rio began pulling away as Ferguson used an ace and a poor return by Laredo to go up 4-2.

The lead remained two until senior Miriam Cardenas confounded the Lady Tigers with her serve, forcing several mistakes and putting the Queens out in front 15-6 with seven consecutive points.

Del Rio grew its lead to 12 points as Morales’ serve and Del Rio’s solid returns helped the Queens go up 19-7.

After a Del Rio miscue allowed Laredo to cut the lead to 20-10, the two teams then exchanged serves for the next eight turns until Del Rio’s lead was 24-13.

The Queens closed out the game with a Ferguson kill down the line and won game three, 25-13.

Del Rio trailed early in game four as well as Martin took a 4-1 lead. But after a few broken serves, Del Rio stormed back to take the lead for good.

Ferguson’s first turn at serve in the game resulted in two aces and seven consecutive points as the Queens pulled ahead 10-5.

After a Martin serve into the net made the score 13-8 in favor of the Queens, Cardenas came on and picked up four more points, aided by a pair of Ferguson kills, to push the lead to 17-8.

The closest Laredo would come was six points as a pair of Del Rio mistakes trimmed the lead to 21-15 late, but after Ferguson assisted Jessica Alvarez with a kill to break Martin’s serve, Tracey finished the game and the match by serving up the final three points and closing things out with a 25-15 win in game four.

It was the final high school match for seniors Cardenas, Jessica Alvarez, Gabri Guerra, Ybarra, Williams and Ferguson. It was also the final match of the year for Queens’ juniors Vanessa Fuentes, Thomas, Morales and Kim Martinez and sophomores Amanda Senney, Elizabeth Alvarez, Jazmin Torres and Sadee Bernal.

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