By Mike Donahue
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School gym was rockin’ and rollin’ last week as the Lady Pirate varsity volleyball team managed to outlast the Western High School Warriors in a five game match that was all about heart.
Although the Pirates creamed the Warriors 25-6 and 25-9 in the first two games Monday, Sept. 19, the Western players lived up to their name and battled back to take the next two games 22-25 and 22-25. Screams, cheers and thunderous support erupted from Western’s JV team and other Western High School fans in the stands every time the Warriors made a save, a dig, an ace and finally a point.
There was absolutely no quit in the Warriors as the team could virtually taste its first victory of the year.
“I think we started playing a little tentative once the match looked like a sure thing,” said Pirate Coach Mandie Matheson. “And Western started playing out of their minds. They wanted to win.”
From the first serve of the deciding game of the match, however, the Lady Pirates showed they, too, were all about heart, intensity and a desire to win.
The Pirates took a 5-1 lead which quickly grew to 7-3, then 11-4 and finally 15-6 in an emotional ending to some great volleyball.
“I think an intense, emotional game like this is the greatest thing that could have happened to our team,” Matheson said. “I am really, really proud of them. They dropped those two games and then came back and took care of business. It showed a lot of heart in a tough situation.”
Some notable statistics from Western game include 10 kills and three aces from Ashley Noto; 20 digs from Sierra Kimbrough, and six kills and three blocks from Kassandrya Goodman.
Last Friday the Pirates continued playing extra tough, beating the Southeast Career Technical Academy of Las Vegas (SECTA) 25-14, 25-15 and 25-13.
Although the Pirates were in new lineup, they came out and really played solid volleyball, Matheson said.
“Everything just seemed to click,” the coach said. “Everybody played good defense, good offense and everybody had good stats.”
Notable numbers include seven aces and four kills by Ashley Noto; seven aces for Sierra Kimbrough; 11 digs for Summer Owens, and six kills for Malary Reid.
