Lady Pirates Continue Long Winning Streak

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

The winds of victory were in the sails of the Moapa Valley High School Volleyball team last week. And it continues to be strong as the Lady Pirates sail forth into the last of the regular season.

The Girls took on three teams and secured wins against all three opponents in straight sets for all of the week’s matches.

On Monday, Oct. 4, the Pirates travelled to Las Vegas to take on Somerset Academy Losee. The Pirates made short work out of the Lions in 3 sets; 25-6, 25-15, and 25-16. MVHS sophomore Alyssa Jolley had 6 kills, 2 aces, and 3 digs to lead the way for the Pirates.

Other notable players were senior Emily Matheson with 9 aces, senior Edyn Bennet with 4 aces, and senior Rachel Lyman serving up another 4 aces.

On Wednesday, the Lady Pirates went up against Coral Academy of Science at home. This ended up being a very tough match. It took a while for the Pirates to dial in on their offense as the Falcons played really good defense and limited their unforced errors.
Even so, Moapa won in straight sets of 25-13, 25-19, 25-17.

The top athletes for the Lady Pirates were Talley Blackwell, who had 10 kills and 3 blocks, and Rachel Lyman who had one of her best matches of the season recording 7 kills, 2 aces, and 12 digs. Also adding some strong play was Halle Evans with 6 kills and Sydney Reese with 11 kills.

The last match of the week placed MVHS against Sunrise Mountain in Las Vegas. The Pirates finished the night taking out the Miners in three very short sets with scores of 25-1, 25-9, 25-9.

“Ace” was the repeated factor of the night as serving set the whole match. The Pirates finished with two players serving ace after ace. The Liberos dominated on the serves, Rachel Lyman had 7 aces while Terra Evans had 6 aces.

The Pirates are now 17-1 on the season with an 11 match winning streak. They have six more matches of regular season play before regionals.

“We are working on limiting unforced errors and improving the fluidity of our offense and defense,” said MVHS Coach Mandie Matheson. “We have some work to do before regionals but the girls are motivated and working hard.”

The Pirates play Virgin Valley on Thursday in Mesquite starting at 6 pm. MVHS also plays Somerset Academy Losee again at home on Monday, Oct. 18 at 7 pm.