San Marcos doesn’t feel like it’s proven anything yet.
It may seem crazy considering the team (5-3, 3-0 district) is perfect in district play this season but the Lady Rattlers aren’t getting complacent. They already have more wins against district opponents than in either of the past two seasons, mainly due to the attitude adopted in the locker room this season.
The purple and white continued to play with a chip on its shoulder in the second 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-17) sweep of the season and first in district play over Austin Akins (2-4, 1-2) on Tuesday night.
“I just told them like, ‘You haven’t done anything yet because you won two matches. Like, big deal,’” Te’o said. “‘You have to prove yourself every single week. We lost to Akins last year and the year before, so every match is a chance for us to prove ourselves.’ So I think that kind of fired them up in the second set.”
Akins only recorded two kills in the first set but was still able to rally off 20 points on the hosts. Senior outside hitter Layla Diaz added five kills early on, including the one that tied the score up at 10-10. Moments later Diaz connected with sophomore setter Ruby Gordon, whose perfect pass allowed the senior to take advantage of the defense and give her team their largest lead of the set at four. Gordon then mixed in another assist to close out the first set, 25-20.
Gordon is one of many new faces on the team but her assists have been a highlight in the San Marcos’ improvement. Even with multiple 15-assist games under her belt, she is a key component with something still to prove.
“I’m working on being more consistent,’’ Gordon said. “I feel like I can rely on my front row a lot and I feel like they can adjust to any set so it’s really helpful.”
The second set was all Lady Rattlers as they jumped out to a 14-4 lead. Senior libero Julia Antu put the set away with four consecutive serving aces that had the defense guessing. The Lady Eagles were unable to guess correctly as the hosts ran away with a 25-13 win.
Akins held its ground in the final set, gaining a five-point lead over San Marcos but the visitors’ nine errors proved too costly against the hosts’ offensive firepower. Gordon found sophomore middle hitter Lianna Guerra for what would be the last kill of the night as the Lady Rattlers took a 25-17 set win and 3-0 match victory.
“After playing the first set tonight, we were kind of, like, in our heads a little bit. But after realizing that teams can come back and stuff that, like, we still have to play our A-game to beat teams,” junior outside hitter Maggie Walsh said. “That’s how we’re gonna win, is still coming to fight because people think that we’re not gonna win games. So we’re wanting to show everyone that we’re going to win games.”
Gordon doled out 30 assists, her seventh consecutive match of passing for that many or more. Walsh posted a double-double with 18 kills and 12 digs. She was followed by Diaz with 11 kills and junior middle blocker Emery Jones. Antu chipped in another eight digs and served a team-high six aces.
San Marcos has a chance to go 4-0 and tie its best start to district play since the 2017 season when it hosts Austin High (7-2, 1-2) inside the Snake Pit this Friday at 6:30 p.m.
“They have the best middle combo in the district. I think both middles are very good. And I think they have probably the best setter in the district, so we gotta serve really tough to try to take them out of that system,” Te’o said. “We served pretty good today at times and last week, we served really well. So hopefully we can do that again.”
