The stars have realigned in the District 30-5A volleyball race – Mission Veterans is back, the brightest star in their galaxy and alone in first place.

The team that has won something like 18 of 20 district title, most of them with undefeated district seasons, took a one-year hiatus last season, finishing third behind district champion Palmview and Roma.

However, after the Patriots commanding 25-22, 25-17, 25-17 sweep over Palmview on Tuesday in front of a packed and raucous crowd a does of normalcy has returned.

The win improved Mission Veterans to 21-4 overall and 6-0 in district play. Meanwhile, Palmview dropped to 13-10 overall and 4-1 in district.

Freshman sensation Mady Perez led the Patriots with 17 kills, but had to work extremely hard. The Veterans defense was clearly prepared for the young gun and rarely gave her large openings while also being positioned in the correct places for a counterattack. Senior Sophia Pacheco added 11 kills but Delilah Cantu, who had shows signs of unleashing fury from the middle in recent weeks, did just that with 12 kills – most of them in the second and third sets.

Going from a two-person attack to three reliable hitters gives a team a larger variety of offense and that was clear with Cantu’s presence on Tuesday.

The Patriots performed as well as they have all season, removing much of the sloppiness seen in recent games, referred to by head coach Diana Lerma as jungle gym play. Passes were sharper and the setting was more on target, allowing the Patriots to tally close 50 kills on the day.

Meanwhile, the Lobos couldn’t get on track. Sophomore big hitter Miley Zieske finished with 12 kills, most coming during the second half of the match, on 57 attempts. The Lobos chalked up just 25 kills on 160 attacks and finished the day with a miniscule 15.6 killing percentage, way below their regular-season average.

The teams will meet again at 7 p.m., Oct. 15 at Palmview. Mission Veterans host Laredo Cigarroa at noon on Saturday while Palmview will travel to Mission to face another playoff/district title hopeful Mission. The Eagles are 17-6 overall and 3-1 I district play, their lone loss also coming by a sweep against Mission Veterans.