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San Marcos took a 3-0 sweep over Crockett in Austin Tuesday night, but it wasn’t easy.
Each time the Lady Rattlers began to pull away, the Lady Cougars made a run to stay in the game. Still the visitors were able to come out on top every time.
“I felt we're a little up and down,” head coach Michelle Moreno said. “So we need to work on that consistency and when we're up, staying up. But I thought (our team) did a good job coming back when we were down and tying it up and then taking the lead. So it's good that they got this win tonight.”
Crockett began the first set with a 2-1 lead, but spiked the ball into the net to tie it back up and give San Marcos possession. Junior middle hitter Samantha Booth picked up an ace to give the Lady Rattlers their first lead of the game. Booth’s strong serving, plus kills from senior setter Jade Olivo and junior outside hitter Layla Diaz established a 7-2 lead for the team. The lead hit double digits at 15-5 with a block from junior outside hitter Riley Dow.
The Lady Cougars hung around, though. They cut the lead to 18-11, then held San Marcos at set point for four possessions before finally surrendering the first game, 25-15.
The momentum carried over into the next frame as Crockett jumped out to a 12-9 lead. The Lady Rattlers relied on junior defensive specialist Gaby Medellin to turn things around.
The hosts blocked a ball out of bounds on the next play, sending Medellin to the serving stripe. She began with two aces. Crockett spiked one ball out of bounds and another into the net. Suddenly, the Lady Rattlers were back up by two. The Lady Cougars called timeout. Medellin returned to rack up another four aces en route to completing a 10-0 serving run. San Marcos took the set, 25-15.
“I felt like Gaby's serve is a lower trajectory, which comes off quick and low. And those are hard to read if you're a passer,” Moreno said. “So she's been doing that all season. I think that she has her pre-serve routine down, and she sticks with it. And so she's done a good job keeping focused from there, especially with it being her first year playing on varsity. So I think that she's got a tough, aggressive serve with a low trajectory, and I think that works for us because she tends to serve consecutively when her time is up to serve.”
The final set proved to be the toughest for the Lady Rattlers. Crockett toughened up and held a 19-18 lead when San Marcos received possession. Senior libero Julia Gutierrez found Diaz for a game-tying kill on the next play, and the team went on to take a 21-19 lead. The Lady Cougars fought to stay within the same distance, down 23-21, but suffered attacking errors on the final two plays of the game to give San Marcos the final frame and the match.
Diaz led the team with 10 kills, followed by senior outside hitter Jordan Helbig with seven. Junior setter Julia Antu dished out 10 assists. Gutierrez collected 21 digs.
The Lady Rattlers will compete at the Bastrop ISD Tournament this weekend, beginning on Thursday. Moreno thought her team was a bit up-and-down on Tuesday. She’s hoping to see more ups in Bastrop.
“I think our team gelling is, you know, it's happening. We're getting closer, and I think we're getting comfortable with each other, which is really great for us to continue to work on in the tournament,” Moreno said. “The girls are getting more aggressive. So that's good and that's all I can ask for … Defensively I feel we did do a good job. The girls are scrappy all over the place for the most part. So we always stress that defense is key. But I think going into this Bastrop (tournament), we need to focus on a more consistent offense.”
