Moapa Valley and Pahranagat Valley High School (PVHS) had been tied 5-5 in their series since 2007.
They met for the 11th time on Aug. 28 in Alamo, the opening game of the season for new coach Milly Walch and her young team.
Moapa Valley, the 2017 Class 3A state runner-up, took the lead in the series with a 3-1 win over the Lady Panthers. Scores were 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, and 25-14.
Walch said her first time as being the varsity coach for PVHS “was really good. Good to get that first one under our belt because now we know what we need to work on and adjustments to make.”
She said, “We have a couple of rotations where we need to get better passing and more setups to Morgan [Harris] to get her more hits. Hannah [Castleton] is hitting good also, and we need to get her the ball more as well.”
She said she thought the Moapa team would be better than it was. “They were consistent, but you could tell they lost some of their big hitters from that state runner-up team.”
Walch and her sister, assistant coach Amy Campbell, both played for former long-time coach Ginger Whipple at PVHS. “Amy was a setter in her day,” Walch said, “so she catches some of the things I don’t know as well.”
The other assistant coach is McKenzie Mulliner.
“We have a young team, just two returning senior starters,” Walch said, “So there’s just a lot of learning, adjusting, and growing to do.”
The girls played at The Meadows on Aug. 31.
After the Labor Day holiday, they play at Virgin Valley in Mesquite, Sept. 4.
Action for PVHS in the eight-team Southern League begins Sept. 14, hosting Beaver Dam.
A new school comes into the league this year, Green Valley Christian of Henderson. They will play the Panthers the last game of the regular season, Oct. 25, in Alamo.
