Having lost to Smith Valley last year, the Hornets had hoped to do a little better this year.
That didn’t happen. Beatty volleyball (13-7) lost to Smith Valley in three sets (25-14, 25-10, 25-15).
Despite the loss, Hornets coach Steve Sullivan said his team had a great year and the team is not losing a lot of players due to graduation. They will lose three but with a strong core of five girls returning. He said this will translate to even a better year next year.
“This year the girls were introduced to a system of offense and defense, which they embraced,” he said. “They worked hard to fill a spot in the system and that helped guide them back to state. We had hopes of putting up a tougher challenge to Smith Valley but about halfway through the first set we stopped doing the little things we needed to do. In the end, the better team did win. Next year we will be even stronger.”
The Bulldogs (32-2-2) went on to beat powerhouse Pahranagat Valley (25-7) in 3 sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-23). The last team to beat the Panthers in three sets was Tonopah, who did it at the regional and state championships in 2012.
According to the NIAA, this was the first time a northern volleyball team had won the state championship in nine years, since Owyhee did it in 2006.
Smith Valley has been flirting with the state championship for the last three years.
They were the number one seed in 2014 and lost to the Panthers in 2014, 3-1, (13-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-21) and in 2013 they were the number one seed and lost 3-1 to the Panthers again (13-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-12). In 2012 the Bulldogs were the number two seed and lost to Tonopah and the Muckers went on to beat Pahranagat Valley at state.
In Division I-A volleyball, Faith Lutheran (30-11) went out with a bang and took their last Division I-A state championship as they beat Truckee in five, (23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 20-25,15-8) and their third state championship in a row.
In Division I volleyball Coronado (31-10), who took their third state championship in a row, defeated Bishop Manogue, 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-14).
In Division III Yerington defeated Incline 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 17-25, 25-10) for the state title.
Beatty stats vs Smith Valley: Alexia Gil 8 assists, Anel Gamboa 3 kills and Vanessa Gamboa 5 kills.
-Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @vernheepvt