MVHS Volleyball Pays Tribute To Seniors With 2nd Win

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Boy’s Volleyball team paid tribute to its senior athletes and claimed their second victory at a home tournament held Saturday, May 15. The team ended regular season play with two extremely competitive matches, barely losing one in the fifth set and winning the other in the 5th set.

The first match started at 11:00 am against Coral Academy of Science. The Falcons came out in full flight as they scraped up the Pirates in the first set winning 25-14.

The Pirates reloaded their cannons for the second set, but still lost 17-25. But they played with much more confidence.

The third and fourth sets went to the Pirates as sent a barrage of defense and kills toward their opponent. But the ship started to sink in the final set as the Falcons again took flight securing the victory.
The final scores for the match were 14-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-4.

Joe Whitmore dominated with 12 kills, 16 blocks (5 solo), 20 digs, and 2 aces. Cole Neilson added 7 kills and 8 blocks.

Senior Ethynn Fullman and sophomore Trent Nelson added 21 assists.

Immediately following the match against Coral Academy, the Pirates took to the court again against Amplus Academy. They secured their second win for the season in a competitive match; 3-2 with sets scores of 25-13, 19-25, 25-15, 12-25, 15-8.

In the first set, the aggressiveness from their match against Coral Academy continued on as they found a flow in aces and kills in the first set. However, following sets of 2-4, the energy began to die within the Pirates.

By the time of the fifth set, the Pirates mustered up the last of their energy and fought strong jumping out to a 2-0 lead. The Archers fought back and tied it up 6-6. Then the Pirates went full sails ahead and closed out the match 15-8.

Cole Nielson upped his play with 8 kills, 6 blocks, and 10 digs while Joe Whitmore included 13 kills and 5 blocks. Ethynn Fullman was instrumental in defense with 17 digs and added 25 assists for the offense.
However, errors were another problem as the team had 45 errors and 36 errors in both matches for the day.

Being a young, first-year program, the Pirates recognized only two senior athletes this year. Ethynn Fullman who is the son of Scott and Vanessa Fullman; and Trevor Nelson who is the son of Travis and Natalie Nelson.

The Pirates begin Regional Tournament play on Tuesday, May 18t at 6:00 pm when they host Cadence. The Pirates are the 8th seed and Cadence the 9th seed.

The winner goes on to play the #1 seed of Boulder City on Thursday at 6 pm in Boulder City. With spectators being allowed in the Regional Tournamen, the NIAA will be charging admission for of $10. All tickets must be purchased online beforehand. Go to www.niaa.com/tickets/index. No tickets will be sold at the touirnament. Tickets are currently on sale.