Pahrump Valley volleyball tested before Boulder City league opener

Before Pahrump Valley begins league play, coach Amber Lugo wanted a clear measure of what her volleyball team can do — and where it still needs work.

“We have a very tough preseason,” Lugo said.

The early nonleague results support that assessment. The Trojans are 1-3 and have won four of 15 sets against Shadow Ridge, Liberty, Mojave and Rancho. They dropped their first three matches before outlasting previously unbeaten Rancho in five sets Tuesday for their first victory. No team won consecutive sets before Pahrump claimed the fifth 16-14.

There have been stretches that show what Lugo believes the team can become. Pahrump scored six consecutive points after trailing Shadow Ridge 24-16 in the opening set of the season. The Trojans improved from a 25-9 first-set loss against Liberty to a 26-24 third set in which they led 23-22. Two nights later, they beat Mojave 25-17 in the third set and came within two points of forcing a fifth.

Those flashes make Lugo’s chief concern easy to identify.

Constantly consistent

“Our biggest challenge right now is consistency,” she said. “We have great moments; we just have to sustain that level of play for an entire match.”

The schedule was designed to expose those gaps before the matches that determine Pahrump’s place in the 3A Southern League. The Trojans open league play at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1, at Boulder City, beginning a 12-match league schedule in which every opponent is played twice.

Pahrump enters that schedule with five key returners from a team that made measurable progress in Lugo’s first season as head coach. The Trojans finished 16-18 overall and 6-6 in league play in 2025, reaching the 3A Southern Region quarterfinals one year after a 10-13 season without a playoff appearance.

“Having so many returners means we get to build on what we started last year: success, culture and discipline,” Lugo said.

The returning group provides experience at every level of the formation. Seniors Xe’ane Kamanu and Riley Saldana are the veteran outside hitters, junior Sedona Norton returns at libero, junior Miani Freitas-Faamai can play on the right side or in the middle, and sophomore Henna Maiava directs the offense at setter.

Kamanu led the 2025 team with 178 kills and added 49 aces. Norton’s 382 digs led the 3A Southern League, while Maiava recorded 317 assists and Freitas-Faamai finished with 100 kills and 20 blocks. Saldana entered last year’s postseason with 122 kills and finished the season with 166 digs.

That returning production is important because the Trojans graduated six seniors, including their leading blocker, another primary setter and one of their top hitters.

The same core has carried the early statistical load this season. Through the first three matches posted on MaxPreps, Saldana led Pahrump with 26 kills, Maiava had 65 assists, Norton had 32 digs and Kamanu had seven aces. Junior McKinsey Nottingham, one of the newcomers Lugo identified as a player to watch, led the team with four blocks.

Saldana then produced 18 kills, nine digs, five aces and a solo block against Rancho. Maiava added 11 digs and three aces in the victory.

Fresh blood

Lugo also expects freshman defensive specialist Mahina Decambra to contribute immediately.

“She is a great defensive player that brings joy to the court,” Lugo said.

Sophomore middle blocker Olivia Veloz and junior right-side/middle blocker Kaitlyn Brown join Nottingham among the new varsity players expected to help replace the size and production lost to graduation. Lugo said Veloz and Nottingham have been eager to learn and improve in the middle.

The league opener should reveal how much the difficult opening stretch has prepared them.

Boulder City improved to 6-5 Tuesday with a 3-1 victory at Basic. The Eagles won 25-18, 20-25, 25-16 and 25-18 for their third victory in four matches following a seven-match appearance at the Las Vegas Invitational.

The Eagles went 3-4 in the invitational, then beat Cheyenne 3-1, lost to Arbor View in three sets and outlasted Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas in five before defeating Basic. In the Coral Academy win, Boulder City recovered from a 25-15 first-set loss and a 2-1 match deficit, taking the final two sets 25-9 and 15-12. Boulder City was scheduled to open league play Thursday against Democracy Prep, after the PVT press deadline.

The Eagles’ player statistics through Aug. 20 identify the central matchup problems for Pahrump. Senior Bella Battistone led Boulder City with 2.7 kills per set and had 14 aces. Sophomore setter Laylani Gubler had team highs of 59 digs and 17 aces, while junior middle blocker Lauren Mueller led the Eagles with 12 blocks.

Pahrump and Boulder City split their two league matches last season. The Trojans rallied from two sets down to win 3-2 at home on Aug. 25, while the Eagles won the rematch 3-1 in Boulder City on Sept. 17. Boulder City finished 7-5 in league play, one game ahead of Pahrump.

For the Trojans, Tuesday’s opener will put the lesson of the early nonleague schedule directly to the test: receive the Eagles’ serves, contain Battistone and turn competitive stretches into complete sets.

Lugo said the ultimate goal is to win more matches, but she will judge the season on more than the record.

“Success will be improvement across the board for all players,” she said.

Contact sports reporter Bill Evans at wevans@pvtimes.com