CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Veterans Memorial Lady Eagles (20-9, 1-0) opened UIL 5A District 29 play with a five-set win over the Gregory-Portland Lady Cats on Tuesday, with the ranked squad surviving a tiebreaker to start district on the right foot.
The Lady Eagles, ranked No. 16 in the 5A TGCA poll, hosted Gregory-Portland at home in a match that lived up to its billing as a potential district title preview.
Gregory-Portland drew first blood, taking Set 1 in a chess match that came down to the wire. G-P setter Kloey Cantu fed Vivian Alexander on the outside, and she broke the block to help the Lady Cats tie it at 23. The set ended on a costly miscommunication — a Gregory-Portland serve landed in, Veterans Memorial got the pass, but nobody was there to handle it, giving G-P Set 1, 25-23.
Veterans Memorial answered in Set 2. Sofia Barrera set up Parker Malone on a back-row attack, and Malone snipped her shot through the block to give the Lady Eagles a 22-19 lead. Cynthia Narvaez then passed a free ball, Bayleigh Figueroa set her quick, and Narvaez put it away off a solo block attempt to close out Set 2, 25-22.
Veterans Memorial took Set 3, 25-20, before Gregory-Portland evened the match by winning Set 4, 25-19, forcing a decisive fifth set.
In the tiebreaker, Figueroa fed Addison Gomez, who fired the match-winning kill to give Veterans Memorial the 15-8 win and the match.
Veterans Memorial senior Parker Malone, who led the game with 20 kills, said the team knew what was at stake heading into the fifth set — and what the win means heading into Friday.
"We were talking about like we need to have energy right off the bat," Malone said. "Some of the sets we started off bad, and that's what ended up getting us in those sets that we ended up losing. But in the fifth set we knew we needed to start off right off the bat and just keep our energy and stay positive throughout the game because it's going to be a good game to get us ready for (Flour) Bluff."
Veterans Memorial faces Flour Bluff on Friday at 5 p.m. at Hornets Arena.
VETERANS MEMORIAL STATS:
Kills
Parker Malone 20
Addison Gomez 10
Assists
Bayleigh Figueroa 20
Sophia Barrera 21
Digs
Lily Garza 24
Parker Malone 24
Aces
Bayleigh Figueroa 4
Parker Malone 3
Blocks
Sarita Owiredu 4.5
Sofia Barrera 1.5
GREGORY-PORTLAND STATS
Aces
Janae Castillo 3
Kalli Rowe 1
Lily Edwards 1
Digs
Kalli Rowe 33
Janae Castillo 21
Kadynce Leal 16
Blocks
Kendall Dawson 2
Alice Brown 1
Bella Quiroga1
Kills
Vivian Alexander 17
Lily Edwards 11
Alice Brown 9
Assists
Kloey Cantu 26
Kaydynce Leal 18
