By BOB SNELL
The Progress
It was a frustrating season last year for Virgin Valley High School on the volleyball court.
The Lady Bulldogs led or were right-in several other matches only to see victory slip away down the stretch. An eight-win season probably should have been more.
This year’s varsity squad is looking for improvement on the court as well as in the win column.
“One of our goals is to learn how to finish and close out matches,” VVHS head coach Robert Nelson said. “We could’ve had three or four more wins last year had we been able to finish. That’s one thing we want to improve upon.”
The Lady Bulldogs will return five players from last season including seniors Evia Toone, Marian Leavitt and Haley Vellinga; along with juniors Reggi Frei and Kinzley Lee. They will be joined by senior Riley Price, who played two years ago as a sophomore.
Two new move-ins – Sweden Smith, a sophomore coming from Boulder City and junior Sara Murri, a foreign exchange student from Italy – will also help the Lady Bulldogs.
“The maturity of our new players will hopefully help bring us together,” Nelson said.
Rounding out the varsity team will be senior Kiera Davis and juniors Brinley Hughes, Mattie Hughes and Marianna Ruiz.
With the makeup of this year’s squad, the Lady Bulldogs will change from a defensive philosophy to an attacking mode.
“With this group, we want to focus on offense,” Nelson said. “We want to be able to attack from as many positions on the court as possible.”
Getting Price back on the court will help VVHS in the middle.
“With Riley and Sweden, our middle play should be strong,” Nelson said. “That’s really going to help us.”
The Lady Bulldogs will compete again in the 3A South Desert League along with rival Moapa Valley and Las Vegas-based schools Coral Academy of Science, Eldorado, Somerset-Losee and Sunrise Mountain.
They will play each school home-and-home as well as playing each school in the 3A Mountain League once.
“Moapa and Boulder City should be really good again,” Nelson said. “They will be the teams to beat.”
VVHS will also play two non-conference matches against Enterprise, Utah and Legacy of North Las Vegas.
The Bulldogs will open the season on August 26-27 at the Yerington Invitational in northern Nevada.
“We’re looking forward to going to Yerington,” Nelson said. “We’re going to use that tournament to set up our team. When we get back, we jump right into playing four matches in four days.”
The Lady Bulldogs will play at Desert Pines in Las Vegas on Aug. 29 and then will host three straight matches against Enterprise (Aug. 30), Clark (Aug. 31) and Legacy (Sept. 1). All matches are set for 6 p.m. in the VVHS main gym.
Nelson will be assisted at the varsity level by Lisa Vellinga with Kortney Tobler coaching the junior varsity and Conrad Allen the freshmen.
Varsity Volleyball 2022 Season Schedule
Aug 26 TBA Yerington Invitational
Aug 29 6 PM Desert Pines
Aug 30 6 PM Enterprise
Aug 31 6 PM Clark
Sep 01 6 PM Legacy
Sep 06 6 PM Boulder City
Sep 08 6 PM Pahrump
Sep 12 6 PM SLAM
Sep 14 6 PM Cadence
Sep 20 6 PM Coral Academy
Sep 22 6 PM Eldorado
Sep 28 6 PM Losee
Oct 03 6 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 11 6 PM Moapa Valley
Oct 13 6 PM Coral Academy
Oct 17 6 PM Eldorado
Oct 19 6 PM Losee
Oct 25 6 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 27 6 PM Moapa Valley
Nov 1-5 Regionals
Nov 11/12 State South
Home games in bold
Schedule subject to change without notice
JV Volleyball 2022 Season Schedule
Aug 29 5 PM Desert Pines
Aug 30 5 PM Enterprise
Aug 31 5 PM Clark
Sep 01 5 PM Legacy
Sep 06 5 PM Boulder City
Sep 08 5 PM Pahrump
Sep 12 5 PM SLAM
Sep 14 5 PM Cadence
Sep 20 5 PM Coral Academy
Sep 22 5 PM Eldorado
Sep 28 5 PM Losee
Oct 03 5 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 11 5 PM Moapa Valley
Oct 13 5 PM Coral Academy
Oct 17 5 PM Eldorado
Oct 19 5 PM Losee
Oct 25 5 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 27 5 PM Moapa Valley
Home games in bold
Schedule subject to change without notice
Freshman Volleyball 2022 Season Schedule
Aug 29 5 PM Desert Pines
Aug 30 4 PM Enterprise
Aug 31 5 PM Clark
Sep 01 5 PM Legacy
Sep 06 5 PM Boulder City
Sep 08 5 PM Pahrump
Sep 14 5 PM Cadence
Sep 22 5 PM Eldorado
Oct 03 5 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 11 5 PM Moapa Valley
Oct 17 5 PM Eldorado
Oct 25 5 PM Sunrise Mtn
Oct 27 5 PM Moapa Valley
Home games in bold
Schedule subject to change without notice
