By BOB SNELL
The Progress
The Virgin Valley High School Volleyball team looked tired. And, rightfully so. The Lady Bulldogs were playing their 10th match in six days. It was an odyssey that took them to Yerington in Northern Nevada’s Mason Valley to Las Vegas and then back home to Mesquite.
That would explain why the Dawgs seemed to hit a wall midway through last Thursday’s home match against Legacy of North Las Vegas.
“We looked like a team that was playing its tenth match in six days,” said VVHS head coach Robert Nelson. “It’s been a long week!”
Despite falling to the Longhorns, 3-1, to end the week, it was a fairly successful six-day run for the Lady Bulldogs.
Virgin Valley went 5-5 overall. After finishing 3-3 in the Yerington tournament, VVHS swept both Desert Pines and Clark of Las Vegas by 3-0 scores while falling to Enterprise, Utah (3-0) and to Legacy. More importantly, the two victories over Desert Pines and Clark were 3A South Conference contests while the other matches were non-conference.
“We would like to win them all, but beating both DP (Desert Pines) and Clark were the big ones,” Nelson said.
Another positive during the week was allowing the VVHS coaches to settle on their lineup on the floor.
“The Yerington tournament allowed us to mix and match and see who could play where,” Nelson said. “The last four matches are pretty much how we’re probably going to go with our rotation.”
In the win over Desert Pines (25-8, 25-17, 25-19) Sara Murri led the way with 12 service aces and 11 assists. Marianna Ruiz and Reggi Frei each had five kills.
The Lady Bulldogs had a tougher time with Clark. After falling behind early in the first two games, VVHS rallied to win 26-24 and 25-22, respectively. They captured the third game 25-13 to complete the sweep.
Murri, a foreign exchange student from Italy, recorded 18 assists to go along with seven aces. Frei had 13 digs while Evia Toone added 11 kills.
Virgin Valley played well but fell to a strong Enterprise team by scores of 25-21, 26-24 and 25-17.
Riley Price had a big night for the Lady Bulldogs with 12 kills, eight digs and a blocked shot while Sweden Smith had nine digs, five kills and a block. Toone added five kills and seven digs while Murri notched 12 digs and Frei 10.
Against Legacy, Virgin Valley rallied from an 18-12 deficit to win the first game 25-23. After dropping the second game 25-20, the Lady Bulldogs seemed to wear down in the last two games falling 25-16 and 25-14.
Kinzley Lee led VVHS with four aces and eight digs with Smith adding nine digs and three kills. Frei had eight digs while Toone recorded seven digs and three kills. Murri had five assists and Marian Leavitt three.
The Lady Bulldogs will play at Boulder City on Tuesday before returning home to host Pahrump Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the VVHS gymnasium. Both are conference matches.
