Coach of the Year: Adrian Cavazos, Edinburg North
The Edinburg North Lady Cougars kept moving forward, and that march turned into a record-setting season.
The Lady Cougars set a school record for victories (32), earned its first district championship and its first-ever journey into the third round of the playoffs. Edinburg North’s run finished in the Region IV-5A quarterfinal round after an 18-match winning streak, but not before the Lady Cougars had won the District 31-5A title with a 14-0 mark, a perfect district record that was another first for the program.
For guiding the Lady Cougars to so many milestones, Valley Freedom Newspapers selected Edinburg North coach Adrian Cavazos as its All-Valley Coach of the Year.
“All the firsts,” Cavazos said of the things he’s going to remember the most about the season. “We had a great group of girls. We started off slow, but we came together. We had some people accept their roles. There was never any regression. Every time we played, we took a step further than before.”
Jessica Martinez, a senior middle blocker-outside hitter, played for Cavazos for four seasons on varsity. Martinez said Cavazos was the biggest reason for the team’s historic season. He’s also had a profound influence on her as a player and a student.
“I grew up with him,” Martinez said. “He helped me grow as a person. We are all so proud of him. I know he wasn’t playing on the court with us, but he put us in all the right places.”
Signs for a record-setting season weren’t there for the Lady Cougars at the beginning. The Lady Cougars returned a talented core of four starters, but the rest of the team had little or no varsity experience.
A signal the Lady Cougars were on track to a highly-successful season happened defeated Harlingen South for the first time in school history during the first round of district play. The toughest test came right after when the Lady Cougars rallied from a two-game deficit to defeat Edinburg Economedes with uber-talented Leigha Brown in five games. The Lady Cougars were on their way.
“We had an amazing season and he kept us humble,” Martinez said of Cavazos. “He was always telling us to think about the next match, the next point. He kept our feet on the ground, and that’s what helped kept us going.”
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