By LAURA ROBISON
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School boys volleyball team got off to a strong start on Wendesday, March 6, at a home game vs. Pinecrest Academy Cadence. The team won the match in three sets.
The Pirates beat the Cougars easily in game one, with a 25-9 victory.
MVHS’s Jimmy Ward served first and put the team on the scoreboard.
The score was 6-4 when Kayden Dixon stepped to the line and served up 5 points. The Pirates never looked back.
The team was ahead 16-8 when Ward again showed his serving skills, racking up 7 points with 3 aces. After a serve by Cadence, MVHS got the ball back, and Mateo Bradshaw served the winning point.
Game two saw similar results with a total score of 25-12. Cadence served first. MVHS got the first point and stayed ahead the entire game. Only four points for the Cougars were scored off of a serve.
When the Pirates got the ball at 7-4. Caden Rawson stepped up and power-served for 6 points, with kills by Brigham Whitmore and Mateo Bradshaw.
Cadence did score a couple of points when Donovan Gomez served, but most of their scores were Cadence kills or Pirate error.
Kael Freeman of MVHS served the winning point.
In direct contrast, game three was an exciting nail-biter as the Cougars went on the hunt for Pirates.
The first 2 points went to Cadence, making it the first time of the evening they were ahead.
At a 2-4 score, MVHS’s Freeman once again served, and with kills from Whitmore, Dixon and Rawson, Pirates were on top.
But that didn’t last long. Over the next several mintues, each team kept up with the other, matching point for point.
With a tie at 17-17, Cougar Robert Hyatt served for 2 points. With Cadence leading again, Rawson served for MVHS and the team was able to score 4, including an ace and a kill.
By the time MVHS got the ball back, it was 24-21, and Pirate Ward served the winning point.
Jimmy Ward led the team with 6 serving aces. Mateo Bradshaw was the kills king for 8. Caden Rawson got 4 digs.
“I’m so excited for the talent we have this year,” said MVHS coach Tiffany Frederick. “The boys played awesome! We just need to make a few minor adjustments, and they will be unstoppable!”
On Friday, Mar. 8, the team travelled to Las Vegas to face off against Valley. The Pirates struggled against the Vikings losing all three games, 25-21, 25-10, 25-21.
“We have to work on our mentality when we go up against a good team and figure out how to shake off a bad pass and missed serves,” Frederick said. “We missed so many serves tonight and our serve receive was so bad, our hitter didn’t get to attack the ball very much. But, they’re still learning how to play with each other. We will figure it out and come back strong!”
MVHS has the week off for Spring Break. Boys volleyball action resumes on Monday, March 18 at home vs Founders Classical Academy. The game starts at 6 pm.
