Lady Panthers shine at Boulder City Invitational

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Serving is a very important part of volleyball, and Pahranagat Valley coach Ginger Whipple said serving was a major factor in the success of the team at the Boulder City Invitational last weekend. ?What really kept us in it was our tough serves. The other schools were struggling a bit to pass our serves. It?s going a little faster than they expect from a small school such as us. We work a little harder on that than other 1A schools do.?

She added, ?In the warmups, the other team might look at us and think, ?why is this little school even on the floor with us?? Then we surprise them, hitting through the blocks, finding the holes, and exploiting the other weaknesses.?

Disrupting the other team?s ability to return serve and their offensive system is what helps the Lady Panthers be more competitive, Whipple explained. ?To get them to set the ball out-of-system, and make them have to swing from the back row, and we try to bring our game as quickly as we can in hopes to catch them by surprise. We can be just as scrappy with the best of them.?

Pahranagat was the only 1A school at the tourney, and showed themselves very well, winning the Gold Division Pool Play (highest ranked teams) and making it to the semifinals. ?My girls are used to playing against bigger opponents and a faster moving game. I really appreciate their effort and their scrappiness. They didn?t ever give up,? Whipple said.

They scored wins over four 4A schools, Basic, Eldorado, Spring Valley and Las Vegas before losing to Bonanza in the semi-finals.

On Friday they won three matches in pool play. On Saturday, they finished pool play, losing to Desert Oasis, then going into bracket play.

In bracket play they won three straight matches, but lost in the semi-finals to Bonanza.

The girls played eight games in five matches on Saturday. ?We played the first game Saturday morning and the last one late that afternoon, so we were pretty worn out with sore muscles,? said Whipple. ?They (Bonanza) had three gals 6-foot or better on the front line and literally triple-blocked us out of the middle. But it was a close match.?

Bonanza in turn, lost 2-1 to league rival Sierra Vista in the finals.

On Tuesday this week, at The Meadows, 6-foot sophomore Dani Mason had 14 kills, 17 digs and three aces to lead the Mustangs (12-7) to a 25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 25-19 victory over the Panthers.

PVHS (8-4) began league play yesterday at Word of Life (2-5).