By LAURA ROBISON
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School boys volleyball team split last week, 1-1, in two matchups.
The Pirates travelled to Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 2 to play against Pinecrest Academy Cadence where they volleyed to win the match in three sets: 25-17, 25-19, 25-21.
Although the Pirates came away with a win, Coach Tiffany Frederick felt there was still room for improvement for her team. “We made a lot of silly mistakes, but pulled off the win in 3,” she said.
“David Walker was out with knee problems and Kael Freeman was out with shin splints. So sophomore Tag Jensen had to step up and fill in for Freeman. He did a fine job.”
Brigham Whitmore and Kayden Dixon led with 10 kills each.
On Friday, April 5 it was a whole different situation as the Valley Vikings came seeking to shut down the Pirates as they had earlier in the season.
Although Valley did win again, it was far from a blowout for the Vikings. The Pirates stayed close and the match went to five sets. In the end, the Vikings won 3-2, but the energy of the hometown crowd lifted the Pirates to give it all they had.
With set scores of 18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 26-28 and 13-15, the Pirates nearly pulled off an upset.
Frederick was very excited at the improvement. “We barely lost but they played the best game we’ve ever seen!” she said.
In the first set the Pirates began in the lead 11-5. The Moapa team gained momentum in set two with clear win against the Vikings.
The third set ended with the Pirates up by a narrow margin. The team then dropped a close fourth set leaving things tied 2-2.
“We lost the 5th set, but only by two points!” Frederick said.
It was 14-9 when Kayden Dixon got up to serve, acing 4 in a row to get the Pirates up to 13 -14. And then Valley got the game point.
Mateo Bradshaw was on fire and led the team with 12 kills. Dixon and Aiden Leavitt both got 4 aces.
With two players out, Tag Jensen stepped up and led the team with 4 assisted blocks and had 7 kills.
“There was a lot of energy on that court tonight and it showed!” Frederick said. “It was a hard loss, but we coaches couldn’t have been more proud!”
MVHS has a current record of 6-3 in league play.
The Pirates have only one game this week as they will travel to Las Vegas on Tuesday to play against Founders Classical Academy.
They will face Cristo Rey at home on Monday, April 15 starting at 6pm.
