MVHS Boys Team Qualifies For State

By ELISE DALLEY

The Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Tennis team has had a busy couple of weeks competing in both individual and team regional meets for both the boys and girls teams.

The girls played team regionals on October 12 against tournament host Boulder City. The Lady Pirates lost, and so did not advance to the next rounds.

The boys hosted Boulder City on October 13 and took the win. This means that, for the first time in MVHS history, the Pirates will be sending a team to compete at the state level. The team consists of: Brock Aikele, Garret Hadley, Nick Hoy, Aidan Johnson, Braden Leavitt, Dalton Marshall, Kael Freeman, Marcus Leavitt, Hunter Landini, John Lyman, and Zayden Hull.

The Pirate team is ranked as second seed for the southern region, while Meadows is ranked first.
The state championship will take place next week, during which the boys will go up first against South Tahoe. If they win or lose, they will advance to the second round and play against Meadows.

Coach Donna Swanson was very impressed with her tennis teams this year. “Making state for team is more difficult than individuals because it is as a whole team,” she said. “This is the first time we’ve ever made it to state as a team. I have taken the boys and the girls for individuals, but never as a team.”

Aidan Johnson, a doubles player on the boys team expressed his excitement about going to state. “I am both excited and nervous,” he said. “I am nervous because I know the competition up there will be very good.”

While the boys team is not sure how the game against South Tahoe will go, history has shown that they may not be really tough. Although South Tahoe is undefeated, Moapa Valley has hopes to show them who’s boss.

If they do, the Pirate boys still have a powerhouse Meadows team to contend with. That will be a taller order.
“Meadows has always been a prominent contender in our league, but these boys know what they have to do,” said Swanson. “We are going into it with the drive to win.”

Last week, the Pirate athletes attended the individual regional competition. Individuals is the opportunity for strong individual players and doubles teams to qualify and go to state on their own.

There were 14 MVHS players in total that went to individual regionals. By the end of the week, the field was narrowed down to 5. These remaining players will compete at the individual state level. These players consisted of singles players Savvy Aikele and Garrett Hadley; as well as the doubles team of Aidan Johnson, and Braden Leavitt.

“I am so excited that we are going both individually and as a team to state,” Swanson said. “We have won once in second place doubles and have three 4th places at state for individual. This has been a great season and I am so proud of all my players.”

Savvy Aikele, a senior going to state for individuals stated, “I’m excited to go and play and to also watch my friends on the boys team. I’m nervous but I’ve put in a lot of extra hours at the court and we’ve worked really hard to get here.”