By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
Moapa Valley returned south played its second preseason tournament last week in Las Vegas. The Pirates took on many different teams, and saw a mix of positive success, as well as areas that still need improvement.
In the first day of the two-day tournament, the Pirates played three games. The first came against one of Bishop Gorman’s younger teams. Moapa Valley was able to win that game to start off the weekend on a good note. But in their two other games that day, the Pirates took on Legacy and LeMoore, California. In both games, the Pirates fell and it was a disappointing evening of play.
Moapa Valley head coach Mandie Matheson said the team just simply didn’t play very well.
The Pirates came out looking for a comeback on Saturday to turn their weekend around. Sure enough, they began the morning with a win against Liberty. They followed that game with an impressive win over Virgin Valley.
“I don’t think Virgin Valley played to their best potential, but I think a lot of that was because we put the pressure on them and just did not let up,” Matheson said. “We also know that we can never take them lightly, because they will always play well against us.”
After the win against the Bulldogs, the Pirates took on a very talented team from The Meadows. The Mustangs derailed the Pirates strong start to Saturday, but the Pirates were determined to play well once again. In a rematch with the Bishop Gorman team the Pirates took on a day earlier, it would be Moapa that came out on top once again.
The Pirates would meet Foothill in the next round. In the first set, the Pirates dominated to take an early lead, but Foothill responded with a win of their own, this one coming in a nailbiter 27-25. Foothill claimed the series after they beat the Pirates in a third set to fifteen points.
“The girls tensed up a little bit and we made three or four unforced errors early,” Matheson said. “The difference was passing and unforced errors. That’s what killed us.”
With the Foothill game ending Moapa’s weekend of play, the Pirates finished at 4-4, which looks like a pedestrian performance in the stat sheet, but the Pirates learned quite a bit. Matheson said there was a certain jump in play from Friday to Saturday.
“The girls were just hot and ready,” Matheson said. “They were a little disappointed about how they played Friday and played really well Saturday in every match they played. The difference was that on Friday we were scrambled and not playing together as a team, whereas on Saturday they came together and gained confidence in each other.”
Speaking of confidence, Matheson sees the weekend as a boost for the team as a whole. “The girls have a lot of confidence heading into this week, but they keep in mind that they still have two months until they are where they want to be,” she said.
The Pirates start their league season this week with a game against SECTA tonight at 6 pm. Moapa will also take on Pahranagat Valley in a home rivalry game on Thursday night at 6 pm.
