Just Getting Started: Memorial Sophomore Lylah Lopez-Castillo Reaches 1,000 Assists

McAllen Memorial sophomore Lylah Lopez-Castillo has already reached a number plenty of setters spend an entire high school career chasing.

1,000 career assists.

Memorial Volleyball announced the milestone Saturday, the same day the Mustangs picked up a 3-1 win over Edinburg Vela.

The number is impressive on its own. What makes Lopez-Castillo’s milestone stand out even more is how early she got there.

She’s only a sophomore.

Lopez-Castillo has become a major part of a Memorial offense that has emerged as one of the Valley’s more dangerous attacks. Through the Mustangs’ previously reported matches, MaxPreps credits her with 634 assists this season at 8.9 assists per set.

Diamond DITV has gotten a firsthand look at what she brings to this Memorial team.

We saw the Mustangs battle Sharyland Pioneer in a five-set win earlier this season.

Memorial showed that night how many different ways it can attack, with players such as Larae Jones and Danara Cardenas among the weapons around Lopez-Castillo.

That’s also where a setter can sometimes get overlooked.

The kill gets the celebration. The hitter gets the highlight.

But somebody has to put the ball there.

Lopez-Castillo has now done that enough times to put four digits next to her name before she’s even halfway through her high school career.

Just Getting Started

That’s what makes this milestone so interesting.

Lopez-Castillo isn’t approaching the end of her high school career. She still has the rest of her sophomore season ahead of her, followed by two more years at Memorial.

There’s no reason to start predicting where her career assist total will eventually land.

There’s a lot of volleyball still to be played.

But reaching 1,000 this early gives us a pretty good reason to keep watching the number.

For now, 1,000 deserves its own moment.

Diamond DITV Final Word

Reaching 1,000 career assists is a milestone. Reaching it as a sophomore is a reason to start paying attention.

Lylah Lopez-Castillo has already put together an impressive start to her career at McAllen Memorial.

The scary part for everyone else?

She’s just getting started.