Beatty volleyball off to a slow start

This past weekend the Beatty High School volleyball team traveled to the Yerington Tournament, playing some of the North’s toughest Class 1A teams.

The Hornets won one and lost four.

In the Yerington match, Beatty lost 25-8, 25-7. In the Pershing County match, they lost 25-7, 25-17. Against Owyhee the Hornets lost 25-17, 25-18 and against Smith Valley they won the first set 25-15, and then lost 25-22 and 15-8.

Beatty beat Wells, 25-16 and 25-10.

But Hornets coach Steve Sullivan is not dismayed with the results.

“I told the girls we weren’t up there because it was easy, we were up there because I knew it would be hard and it would challenge them,” Sullivan said. “We only took eight girls, so they gained a lot of experience. The games allowed us to see where our weaknesses and strengths are, not just physically but mentally.”

He said the girls played hard against Owyhee and Smith Valley. Both of those two teams had won recent Class 1A state volleyball championships.

“We had leads against Owyhee and Smith Valley but at about the halfway point during the game, we fell apart and allowed our mistakes to control us,” the coach said. “Overall, we showed growth over the weekend in terms of our skills and our offensive rotations but we still have a long way to go. The team has a positive mentality about challenging themselves to improve and we are looking forward to testing that at the Trona Tournament this weekend.”

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com