Pirates Cruise To Two Wins

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Volleyball team set their sights on a pair of rivals last week. The Pirate girls faced a road matchup against a struggling Sunrise Mountain team, and then hosted a primetime game against the rival Virgin Valley Bulldogs. Luckily for the Pirates, neither game gave them much to be concerned about following the final whistle.

The first match was at Sunrise Mountain on Tuesday, October 2. The Pirates handled the Miners fairly easily. They would win in three quick sets: the first by a whopping 25-5; and then the second and third coming in at 25-14 and 25-12.

The Miners came into the game with just one win on the season, and that win happened to give Moapa a good look at how their week would round up. The Miners’ sole win had come against none other than Virgin Valley just a week earlier.

The Bulldog team traveled to Moapa Valley on Thursday for their first meeting with their rivals this season. With the Pirate student section packed in the stands, the team was excited about being able to perform for family and friends in the bleachers.

The team cruised through three sets once again. The first set opened with seven straight points served by senior Shyanne Matheson, who finished with eight aces.

The Pirates won the first set 25-10 and the second 25-12. In the third, the Pirates had extra motivation to end the contest and get to celebration, as they rushed their way to a 25-7 victory.
Emilie Barraza led the team in digs and Alex Peay added six aces for the Pirates. The three returning seniors led the show in their last time seeing the Bulldogs at home.

“It was a great win for the girls,” said MVHS coach Mandie Matheson. “It was fun to see them start with intensity and our goal this week was to keep that through all of our sets. I felt like they did so.”

Matheson went on to talk about the team’s expectations going into the rivalry game.
“As a team, they definitely expected that if they came out with intensity, they would get a good outcome,” Matheson said. “They had a lot of confidence going into it, and our goal besides the win was playing our game for three full sets.”

The new focus centers on the “game of the year,” as some Pirate volleyball athletes have referred to it, against the Boulder City Eagles on Wednesday. The Eagles come into Moapa Valley with a one game lead on the Pirates and in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the 3A. Moapa hopes to change that with this game.

“This is an important game for us and definitely one the girls have been hungry for and preparing for the last three weeks for,” Coach Matheson said.

Strategically, Matheson has been putting plenty of minutes in with her team that focus on how to take down the Eagles.
“The big thing is playing our game,” she said. “We have to be strong defensively. They are very big on the front line so we have to keep the ball off the net and serve the ball tough. We have to eliminate unforced errors.”

Lastly, Matheson talked about the team’s toughest challenge that comes along with taking on the Eagles, the mental warfare that comes with the rivalry. She said her team is coming in ready to bear it all.
“We’re just pushing forward with the idea of having nothing to lose,” she said. “We’re going after them. They’re in first place so it’s our job to upset them and get them out of that position.”

Depending on their performance this week, the Pirates have a chance to be back at the top of the 3A South for a consecutive regular season.