By ROD NELSON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Volleyball team navigated through the Regional Tournament last week and came out with a spot in the upcoming State Championship tournament. To do that, though they had to stand victorious against a Pahrump Valley team and then against Mojave. In the final regional round, though, the Pirates fell short against Boulder City.
Moapa Valley started the week by travelling to Mojave High School in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Here they went up against Pahrump Valley for the opportunity to play for a berth in the State tournament. The Pirates had previously played against Pahrump and defeated them soundly by a score of 3-0: 25-20, 25-15, and 25-21.
With confidence, the Pirates were able to defeat Pahrump 25-15, 25-11 and 25-11. The girls came in all trumped up to go against Pahrump. Strong serving from Andi Hillstead, Abbie Evans and Jessie Frei fueled the team. Offensively Sierra Bunker, Abbie Evans and Kyla Bradshaw anchored the win with their strong swings and well placed shots.
This win paved the way for the Pirates to play against Mojave in their home gym on Thursday, Nov. 7 for the privilege of competing at State. In all three sets of this match, Mojave won the first points. Also in all three sets, it was Pirate senior Abbie Evans who scored the winning points by securing a kill.
In the first set the Pirates played well and won by a score of 25-16. The next two sets were extremely close contests as Mojave put in a strong effort. There were many long volleys in the next two sets and all the girls played hard and determined to win. The scores in both sets came out with Pirates on top: 25-21 and 25-23.
The audience was able to watch volleyball at its best and both teams played great. Mohave will be a strong competitor next year as they had 3 seniors with only 2 playing much of the time.
The final regional championship match on Saturday put the Pirates up against rival Boulder City. With 4 girls over 6 foot and taller, the Pirates had a daunting task ahead of them.
The Eagles came into the match having played 39 matches this season and only five losses. They were sustaining a winning streak of 24 in a row and they hadn’t lost a set in that time.
The Pirates played their hearts out against Boulder City and performed to their best. They made many digs and forced the Eagles earn every point that they received. But that front line proved too much for the Pirates in this match. The Eagles took the first set 25-17, and the second set 25-13. The Pirates came very close to holding them off in the third set. But in the end, the Eagles prevailed with a score of 25-23.
The girls have earned the opportunity of performing at state which will be held at Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas. The Pirates will first play the Truckee Wolverines, a powerhouse team from the North, who have a record of 25-5. The Truckee team has eleven seniors playing for them. This match will take place on Friday, Nov 15 at 6 pm at Faith Lutheran.
