By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
The Pirates took to the road last week for a matchup against the Virgin Valley Bulldogs in Mesquite. The Pirates had taken down the Bulldogs in a preseason tournament game earlier in the year, so they came in with confidence.
In the first set, the Pirates won 25-18. But the Bulldogs responded for their home fans with a hard fought second set. In the end, it would be Virgin Valley claiming a 29-27 victory.
With the teams tied with one win apiece, the third set would be crucial, and Moapa responded with a 25-19 victory to give them the advantage once again.
In the fourth set, Moapa Valley was dominant, claiming their biggest margin of victory yet, with a 25-13 win.
Eden Whitmore led the Pirates with 21 kills, while Shelbi Walker had 12 and Abbie Evans had 10. Aria Messer led the Pirates in setting up the scores with a team-leading 33 assists.
“Physically, we were a stronger team, but emotionally, Virgin Valley came out stronger,” said Pirate head coach Mandie Matheson. “While Virgin Valley played very well, I felt like we allowed them to play better than what we should have.”
Over the weekend, the Pirates played multiple games in a tournament in Las Vegas, the Nike Durango Fall Classic, which Matheson referred to as “one of the elite tournaments in the country”. The invitational featured teams from as far aways as New York, Kentucky, Georgia and Hawaii.
In pool play, the Pirates played four tough games, against Johns Creek (GA), Valley Christian (AZ), Las Vegas’ own Shadow Ridge, and Assumption High School, from Louisville, Kentucky. Assumption was ranked as the top volleyball team in the country heading into the weekend, giving the Pirates a rare opportunity to take on elite high school volleyball talent.
“Even though they hammered us, to play that kind of competition is amazing, and then to sit down and watch is just a powerful experience,” Matheson said. “Beyond that match, the girls competed extremely well against every other competitor.”
The Pirates would fall short in all of their pool games, placing them into the Character Division bracket. Their first match came against McQueen, a school from Northern Nevada. The Pirates won a hard fought set 31-29 to start off, and then responded with a dominant effort in the second set, taking the victory 25-14.
In the second game of tournament play, Moapa Valley took on Silverado. The two sides traded close sets in the first two, to set up a decisive third set for a trip to the tournament championship game. Silverado won it in a closely battled 25-21 finish.
In the third place game, the Pirates took down Poly Prep (New York) after two nailbiting sets, both finishing 26-24.
“The way that they performed, considering they were the smallest school, I felt like they really put it all out there and represented the valley,” Matheson said of her team.
