By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Lady Pirate Malary Reid prepares to slam home a killer during last week’s game against the Spring Valley High School Grizzlies. Photo by Mike Donahue.

The Moapa Valley High School Lady Pirates varsity volleyball team played two exceptional matches last week winning both with little problem.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Pirates came out strong against the Legacy Longhorns, quickly taking the first two games 25-13 and 25-17.

The determined Longhorns refused to quit, however, taking the third game 17-25 behind the extremely tough play of Ashly Goor, who had five kills and two aces, and Whitney Adair with three kills and four strong blocks.

Legacy Coach Amber Barney said the two deserve a lot of credit for keeping the Longhorns alive until the Pirates returned to form to win the fourth game 25-10.

“The Pirates have some really strong hitters and we just failed to execute in some clutch play,” Barney said.

Pirate Coach Mandie Matheson was pleased with her team’s play.

“They trusted each other and played very disciplined defense,” Matheson said. “They went to the right spots and stayed there.”

Notable statistics include Sierra Kimbrough with four aces; Malary Reid, 10 kills and six aces; Summer Owens with 12 digs, and Emma Eira with eight digs and six kills.

Last Wednesday night, Oct. 19, the Pirates beat the Spring Valley Grizzlies in three straight games 25-15, 25-19 and 25-16.

Grizzlies Coach Jean Rees said her team is relatively young, but the Pirates were just exceptionally strong in the game.

“We need to work on our defense,” she said. “And I think that both teams sort of had a serving problem.”

She said strong Spring Valley players included Nicole Rafay, Rachel Milam and Tori Patterson.

Matheson saw an improvement in Pirate serving against the Grizzlies over previous games.

“They were all doing a pretty good job hitting their spots,” she said. “We’re trying something new and the players are adapting to it well.”

Notable players included Emma Eira with four aces and 12 kills, and Malary Reid with five aces and nine kills.