1K + 1K: Mady Perez Reaches Double Milestone Just Days Into Junior Season

The Mission Veterans standout has already surpassed 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs — and her junior season is only getting started.

By Diamond DITV | Fan Perspective

A week ago, we were counting down.

Now we’re trying to keep up.

Mady Perez entered her junior season at Mission Veterans Memorial with 938 career kills and 969 career digs. That left her 62 kills and 31 digs away from two of high school volleyball’s biggest career milestones.

Seven matches later, the countdown is over.

1,022 career kills.

1,059 career digs.

And she’s barely started her junior season.

One Kill Away

Perez wasted little time attacking the milestones.

She opened the season with 24 kills and 24 digs against Edinburg High before Mission Veterans headed into tournament play.

Then the kills started piling up.

Nine against Grulla. Twelve against Mercedes. Eleven against St. Joseph Academy. Five against San Benito.

That left Perez sitting at 999 career kills entering Mission Veterans’ Aug. 15 match against Valley View.

Her first kill of the match was No. 1,000.

Perez finished with nine kills against Valley View and added another 14 against Harlingen South, pushing her career total to 1,022.

Meanwhile, the defensive milestone had already arrived.

Perez entered the season with 969 career digs, collected 24 against Edinburg and five more against Grulla, leaving her just two short of 1,000. She crossed the mark during Mission Veterans’ tournament run and finished the weekend with 1,059 career digs.

Just like that, Perez was a 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig player.

More Than a Hitter

The double milestone says a lot about why Perez has become one of the Valley’s most interesting volleyball players.

She’s capable of taking over matches offensively, but her game has never been limited to attacking.

Through the first 15 sets of 2026 alone, Perez has recorded 84 kills and 90 digs.

That’s why we’ve seen her described as everything from an outside hitter to a defensive specialist or libero.

Maybe 1,000 + 1,000 is a better description than any position could provide.

What’s Next?

Before the season, we asked Perez about closing in on both milestones.

Her answer looks even better now.

“I’m not going to let that make me stop wanting to grow or make me feel like I already reached a certain level,” Perez said. “It’s just going to make me thrive and want to get more and do better.”

At the time, she hadn’t reached either milestone.

Now she has both — while Mission Veterans has opened the season 7-0 without dropping a set.

A few days ago, we told Mady’s story under the headline “938 Kills Later, Mady Perez Is Still Just Getting Started.”

We didn’t expect the title to become outdated this quickly.

The 938 is already 1,022.

The countdown is over.

For a junior with almost two full seasons of high school volleyball still ahead of her, the more interesting question now isn’t when Mady Perez will reach 1,000.

It’s how high those numbers can go.