By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
Many positive comments have been made about the new Bobby Morrow Stadium scoreboard, and one of them has highlighted student-athletes during breaks in the football action.
So to say that San Benito volleyball player Kalista Olivares’ name was up in lights would be right on the mark, like one of her many kills in matches.
During the Greyhounds’ Aug. 28 football season opener against the Edcouch-Elsa Yellowjackets, the junior Olivares’ image appeared on the giant scoreboard, with the words “Athlete of the Week” emblazoned under her name.
This appeared just as the second quarter began.
What Olivares is doing on the court alongside her Lady Greyhound teammates is getting noticed beyond the friendly confines of the SBHS gymnasium.
SBHS Head Coach Ruby Medina and Assistant Coach Cynthia Wareham have kept team stats, and several Lady ‘Hounds have been performing well on offense just as volleyball play came to a close in August.
“Those kills give us so much energy; we feed off each other, and when it’s going really well, it’s hard to stop us,” Olivares said.
She said that sharing the wealth on the volleyball court is not a bad thing. In fact, Olivares welcomes it.
That’s good because the three-year varsity player is part of a trio of Lady ‘Hounds who are “killing it.”
By the end of August, Olivares led with 102 kills, followed closely by junior Annalise Rodriguez with 95.
One of the newcomers who has cemented her place on the court is freshman Madelynn Mendoza, who has 88 kills.
Senior Valeria Enriquez said that Mendoza has blended in well with the more experienced and taller players, such as Olivares and Rodriguez.
“It’s still a steep learning curve, but we want her to succeed, so we’ll hype her up when she needs it,” said Enriquez, who had 26 kills. “It’s the same when she, others, or even I make mistakes. We’ll always back each other up.”
By the end of August, senior Liennai Allen had recorded 33 kills.
Another junior on the team is libero Camila Guajardo, who ranked high in digs with 161 digs. For that reason, Coach Medina has her positioned solely in the back, as she averaged 3.7 digs per set.
Coach Medina also gave Rodriguez an opportunity to play in the back. By the end of the first month of play, Rodriguez was tops in digs with 213 and averaged 4.6 per set.
These players were also tops in serve receiving, with Guajardo at 203 and Rodriguez at 173. The veteran Enriquez (115) and the younger Mendoza (105) round out the top dig earners.
As September began, SBHS had earned 23 blocks, with Olivares leading at 8; Enriquez leads in volleyball handling assists with 301.
The points leader was Rodriguez with 98, followed by Guajardo (63), junior Isabella Gonzalez (62), Mendoza (50), sophomore Analie Mosqueda (45), and Olivares (41).
Rodriguez led with 23 serving aces, followed by Mendoza (12), and Olivares and Gonzalez with 10 each.
As September began, the Lady ‘Hounds defeated former district rival Brownsville Hanna (3-0) and lost to Brownsville Rivera (0-3).