Spring Sports Roundup April 12, 2023

VVHS Boys Volleyball
By BOB SNELL
The Virgin Valley High School boys volleyball team, playing in its inaugural season, dropped its first five matches to start off 0-5. Since then the Bulldogs have rebounded to go 5-1 and improve to 5-6 overall.

After having their modest winning streak snapped by Durango, 3-0, last Monday in Las Vegas, the Bulldogs defeated Somerset Academy-Losee, 3-2, Wednesday in North Las Vegas and followed that up 24-hours later by grinding out a 3-2 win at home over Pinecrest Academy-Sloan Canyon.
As expected, the Bulldogs hit a wall against Sloan Canyon but rallied to pull out the win after trailing 2-1 after three games.

“I think we were a little tired and mentally drained after having to go five sets the night before,” VVHS head coach Courtney Tobler said. “We didn’t play our best, but I was proud of the way we battled back.”

Sloan Canyon won the first game 25-22, but Virgin Valley bounced back to take game two 25-16. The Pirates took game three 25-18 and were a win away from taking the match.

The Bulldogs rallied in the fourth game behind some strong play at the net. Sparked by kills from Destry Tobler and Parker Jensen, VVHS rolled to a 25-11 win setting up a deciding fifth game.
Kills by McKay Mulitalo and Tobler, plus the serving of Andrew Muniz, staked Virgin Valley to an early 6-2 lead. A block by Tobler and kills by Rome Gagliano helped push the advantage to 13-7.

With game and match point looming, Bryant Denninghoff ended the night with an emphatic kill to give the Bulldogs the win.
“We’re still learning,” Tobler said. “We’ve got to minimize our errors and be in the right spots. We’ve improved, but we also need to be more steady.”

Destry Tobler led the Bulldogs with 15 kills and 12 digs while Gagliano and Mulitalo had 10 kills apiece. Nate Panjaitan was credited with 33 assists while adding seven digs and four service aces. Alex Rivera chipped in with 13 digs while Andrew Muniz had 10.

Against Somerset-Losee, the Bulldogs won by scores of 25-22, 18-25, 25-27, 25-15 and 15-11.
Panjaitan led with a line of 30 assists, nine kills, four blocks and three aces with Angel Rosas-Jimenez recording 10 kills, five aces and three blocks. Tobler had 12 digs and 11 kills while Rivera notched 27 digs and Aiden Muniz 10 digs. Gagliano added eight digs and three aces while Mulitalo had eight kills.

Virgin Valley will play at Clark in Las Vegas on Tuesday before hosting Mater Academy East Las Vegas on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the VVHS gymnasium. Friday, the Bulldogs travel back to Las Vegas to face Founders Academy.

Pirates vs. Tigers
By DAVE BELCHER
The Moapa Valley High School baseball team traveled to Hurricane, Utah for a game on Tuesday, Apr. 4 and came away with a 8-6 win against the Tigers.
The Pirates scored 4 runs in the first inning. They scored two more in the second off of hits by Tyson Pettingill and Chandler Evans. Another run was scored in the third by Tahj Totten on a passed ball in play for a 7-1 Pirate lead.

But Hurricane kept things interesting by attempting a comeback. Asher Christensen hit a two-run homer on a fly ball to left field in the bottom of the third inning to close the gap, 7-3. The Tigers went on to score a run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
The Pirates had 9 hits for the game. Moapa Valley scored their final run in the top of the seventh making the final score.

Evans finished with three hits in the game and drove in 2 runs. Pettingill had a hit and drove in a run while Totten also drove in a run. Totten also got two walks in the game.
Wadsworth pitched the first four innings allowing 5 hits and three runs striking out 3.
Logan Schouten pitched the final three innings for the Pirates allowing a run.