The Pirates Are Back On The Court

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

With spectator seating uncharacteristically empty, the MVHS Volleyball team returned to play last week. Here Sydney Reese goes for the kill in a home match against Pahrump held on Friday night. PHOTO OF KIM HARDY/The Progress.

The Moapa Valley High School Volleyball team played its first match on Friday, March 5 in the home gymnasium. It was the first match for volleyball in over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic had caused a postponement of the fall sports season until now.

After such a long stretch without school athletics, the interest was high to play Pirate volleyball.
“We held tryouts during the end of February and the turnout was huge,” said MVHS coach Mandie Matheson. “We were able to fully staff all teams including B, JV, and Varsity. There was just an excitement in the air by the girls to be able to be playing again.”

The Pirates started the first set with a lead of 2-0 off of excellent serving.
Pahrump then kicked it in to tie up the first set 2-2. Moapa fought back with an ace and then a couple of kills by Sydney Reese, reclaiming the lead and a score of 9-4.

But the Trojans were sharp on defense and able to keep the match close. Pahrump took the lead 12 to 11.
But then the Pirates dialed it in pulled off outstanding serving and scoring led by Reese manhandling the Trojans with kill after kill. The final score of the first set 25-15.

That opened things up for the second set which was all Moapa. Kyla Bradshaw added more dominance into the offense with multiple kills. Reese and Bradshaw were not to be stopped on the front line adding blocks as well.

Moapa jumped up to a 14-3 score and never looked back winning the set 25-12. The Pirates had 6 aces, 7 kills, and 4 blocks.

The third set was a complete turnaround for the Pirates. They started out good with a 2-0 lead from an ace by Halle Evan. But then their serving and the offense fell apart while Pahrump got moving with a rejuvenation in their offense. Pahrump won the set 25-17.

In the fourth and final set, the Pirates settled down and refocused on their serving and offensive play. This resulted in another win of 25-15, securing the victory in the match.

The team was led by Sydney Reese with 11 kills, 9 by Kyla Bradshaw. Halle Evans had 4 aces. Jessi Frei chalked up 21 assists in the match.

The Pirate B Team did a clean sweep of Pahrump on Friday, by claiming the set in a 2-0 sweep.

The JV Team was also on a roll as they swept Pahrump 2-0 with scores of 27-25, 25-10.