Volleyball: Santa Maria Didn’t Win District 32-2A Last Year. We’re Picking Them Anyway.

By Diamond DITV | Fan Perspective

Santa Maria did not win District 32-2A last season.

So naturally, we’re picking the Cougars to win it this year.

Hear us out.

Santa Maria won 23 matches, beat first-place La Villa twice in three meetings and could return seven of the nine players listed on last year’s varsity roster.

Now it makes a little more sense, right?

This district is not simple, though.

Riviera-Kaufer brings back a strong core. La Villa still has the crown. Pharr Vanguard drops down from 3A after making the playoffs. Premont has enough young pieces to stay close, and Monte Alto has already shown it can be better than last year’s results.

Six teams. Four playoff spots.

And we’re starting with Santa Maria.

Santa Maria Has the Best Preseason Case

The Cougars went 23-10 overall and 6-2 in district play last season, and the roster continuity is hard to ignore.

Only two players on Santa Maria’s listed 2025 roster were seniors, potentially leaving Delailah Montelongo, Kalyn Jimenez, Ayleen Gutierrez, Odalys De la Rosa, Kaylee Trevino, Andrea Casarez and Amberly Adame coming back.

That is a lot of experience returning from a team that was already right in the middle of the title race.

The head-to-head results help too.

Santa Maria beat La Villa twice in three meetings and split with Riviera-Kaufer.

So even though the Cougars did not finish first, they were never far from it.

That is enough for us.

Santa Maria is our No. 1.

Riviera-Kaufer Is Right There

If you want to pick Riviera-Kaufer first, we are not going to argue much.

The Seahawks went 6-2 in district play last season and bring back several players who were already producing.

Emma Valenzuela graduates after leading the team in kills and blocks, so there is a real hole to fill.

But Morgan Butler was only a sophomore and finished second on the team in kills while leading Kaufer in aces. Bailey Ivey contributed as a freshman. Caroline Russek handled the setting as a junior. Madeline Valenzuela led the team in digs, and Abigail Solomon was another returning presence at the net.

That is a good base.

Kaufer also split with both Santa Maria and La Villa last season.

So this is not Santa Maria and everybody else.

It is Santa Maria by a very small margin over Kaufer.

La Villa Has the Crown, but a Lot to Replace

La Villa still deserves plenty of respect.

The Cardinals finished first last season at 6-2 and went 17-13 overall.

They proved they could beat both Kaufer and Santa Maria.

The issue is turnover.

Nine seniors were listed on last year’s 15-player roster.

That is a lot of experience to replace at once.

There are still players to build around, including Arianna Escobar, Kassandra Mariscal, Vanessa Galindo, Dalilah Alaniz, Jasmin Elissetche and Jisselle Lopez.

But compared with Santa Maria and Kaufer, La Villa enters with the biggest roster question.

That is why the defending first-place team sits third in our preseason projection.

Not because we think the Cardinals suddenly fell off.

Because the two teams above them appear to bring more back.

Pharr Vanguard Might Be the Team That Breaks This Prediction

This is the one that makes us nervous.

Pharr Vanguard competed in 3A last season and reached the postseason.

The Spartans faced teams like Edinburg IDEA, Edinburg Vanguard and Progreso. They took sets from strong competition and lost 3-1 to Progreso in the playoffs.

Now they drop into 2A.

That matters.

The problem is that there is almost no reliable public roster information telling us what returns.

And that is really the only reason they are fourth.

If Pharr Vanguard brings back a good chunk of last year’s team, this ranking could look way too low.

They are easily the biggest wildcard in 32-2A.

Premont Is Close Enough to Matter

Premont went 6-15 and 2-6 in district play last season, so there was a gap to close.

But there were also signs that the Cowboys could improve.

Premont pushed Kaufer to five sets in one meeting and had several underclassmen seeing varsity time.

That makes No. 5 feel more like “first team out” than “not in the race.”

In a six-team district where four qualify, it does not take a massive jump to change the picture.

If one of the teams above them struggles, Premont could be right there.

Monte Alto Is the Bounce-Back Team

Monte Alto is probably the hardest team to evaluate.

The reported 2025 results were rough.

But one year earlier, Monte Alto beat Edinburg IDEA, beat Pharr IDEA and reached the postseason.

So this is not a program that has been stuck at the bottom forever.

We also know several underclassmen saw varsity time during the tougher 2025 season.

That makes Monte Alto a legitimate bounce-back candidate.

We still need to see the improvement before moving them higher, but sixth does not mean we think they are out of the picture.

Diamond DITV Preseason Prediction

1. Santa Maria

2. Riviera-Kaufer

3. La Villa

4. Pharr Vanguard

5. Premont

6. Monte Alto

Santa Maria is our pick.

Kaufer is right there.

La Villa still has the crown.

Pharr Vanguard might make this whole projection look silly.

Premont is close enough to crash the playoff field, and Monte Alto has enough recent history to make a bounce-back believable.

Four playoff spots. Six teams. Not much room for anyone to be wrong for long.