Lincoln County’s Kayla Mathews attempts to block a spike from Pahranagat Valley’s Alyson Egbert at the Pahrump Invitational Tournament. The Lady Panthers won the non-league match 3-1. (Dave Maxwell photo)
A match with in-county rival Lincoln County and a second place finish at the Pahrump Invitational Tournament highlighted the week for the Pahranagat Valley girls volleyball team.
On Sept. 3, senior Kennedy Huntsman distributed 22 assists in the Panthers’ 17-25, 25-11, 25-23, 25-19 win over the Lincoln Lynx.
Bailee Hosier had 15 kills, and Traci Strong added 10 kills for Pahranagat Valley. Lincoln won the JV match 3-0.
Pahranagat coach Ginger Whipple said, “The girls had the jitters and were nervous. We couldn’t get the offense rolling in the first game and were tentative. But in the next three games, we picked up the offense and played aggressive and that made the difference.”
Huntsman said of her play, she was “just trying to be the coach on the floor. We played really hard and it was a team effort.”
Lincoln coach Ken Thornock said of Pahranagat, “I admire how they just keep coming and how they got fired up. A good scrappy team, and Ginger does great things with them. They just keep coming at you. They play to win all the time. I use that as an example for our team and get the Lincoln team to have that same mindset. The first game we played really well. It’s early in the season and I want to see what some of the other players can do. The players need to push each other instead of just settling into a certain roll.” He also noted Kaitlyn Cheeney “worked really hard for us as setter.”
Over the weekend, Sept. 7, Pahranagat Valley participated in the 16-team Pahrump Invitational Tournament.
The Panther girls lost to Division III Calvary Chapel 26-24 and 25-11 in pool play, but came back to take 2-0 match wins over Pahrump Valley JV, Del Sol, Clark and defending Division IV State champion Tonopah.
Whipple said, “I was very impressed with the way we played and our results. We got a lot of games. They put together some offensive schemes and worked together as a team, and played hard.”
However, having to face Calvary Chapel again in the tournament finals, the Panthers lost 25-17, 25-14. “They are just so tall,” Whipple said, “They’ve got a front line of three girls near 6-0 or better, and they just pound the ball.”
Alamo played at Virgin Valley Sept. 10, and this Friday and Saturday at the Lake Mead Fall Classic.
