MVHS Volleyball Makes Quick Work Of SLAM

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Volleyball team hosted an out of conference opponent, SLAM Academy, on Friday September 7. The Pirates were hoping to dominate and impress their fanbase in their home opener. Despite a slow start, they were able to do so.

Early in the first set, a couple errors on the Pirates’ side of the net kept SLAM sticking around. Back and forth until midway through the set, Moapa seemed uneasy. But the Moapa team rallied to finish the set strong and pull through with a 25-15 victory.

Head coach Mandie Matheson described what she saw from the sidelines in the slow start. “I think it’s the girls’ first exposure in front of a home crowd so their nerves were at the surface,” she said. “It took them about five minutes to get a rhythm. But once they did, they performed well.”

In the second set, the Pirates looked even stronger than before. They had it close out of the gates but snapped a bit sooner than in the first set and would go on to win it 25-10.

In the final set, strong serving by Shyanne Matheson paved the way to another lopsided victory. This time, the final score would be 25-11 and the Pirates controlled the set from the start.

Matheson described the effect of the Pirates’ home court advantage. “I think the student section was awesome,” she said. “It was really cool to have such a fun atmosphere. We don’t have many home games so it’s good for the girls to see that fanbase.”

Matheson identified things that needed cleaning up on the court before the team moves on to their next preseason tournament. “Sometimes they were being too careful with their serving and they were missing,” Matheson said of her team. “We talked about serving tough instead of just making sure it was in and it changed their focus a bit.”

This weekend, the Pirates will have a rare opportunity to participate in the Durango Fall Classic sponsored by Nike in Las Vegas. The Pirates are one of a select group of talented teams with the opportunity to play in this prestigious tournament.

“It’s quite an honor to even be a part of it,” Matheson said of the upcoming event. “There are nationally ranked teams from all over the country coming in.”
“Every team we play will outsize us and have more experience,” Matheson said. “So our goal is to improve our game because of the competition. We want to compete with the best.”