Volleyball heats up as undefeated Beatty takes on Alamo
Beatty volleyball fans have a lot to look forward to in this scrappy Hornets team that is now 3-0 overall and 2-0 in league play.
The Beatty Hornets defeated the Quest Knights last Friday in league play 3-0 at home. The scores were 25-6, 25-13 and 25-13.
This makes the Hornets undefeated. The Hornets take their strong defensive team to play Ginger Whipple’s team at Pahranagat Valley this Friday at 5 p.m.
The Panthers beat up on Tonopah 3-0 last week and are 9-6 overall and 1-0 in league play. Whipple’s team is extremely disciplined. Whipple has the knack for taking non-volleyball talent and turning it into gold. She has over 30 years with Pahranagat Valley and has been in the playoffs over 17 times.
Hornets Coach Dale Lerbakken is excited to play Pahranagat Valley this week and was more than satisfied with the way his girls performed last week.
“All the girls played well last Friday. Most served well. Claudia Granados and Maggie Cathcart had straight runs of seven serves each, and at the end of the last game Dalia Mejia served in 11 straight. All 12 girls got to play equal amounts of time. We are really looking forward for Friday’s game,” he said.
Lerbakken will be depending on the great blocking of Eaire Davis. Davis is a veteran player and could be the one to spark the team against Alamo this Friday.
“Eaire Davis had a great game blocking and hitting well against Quest,” the coach said. “We are working on blocking more to prepare for the Alamo game on Friday. Our height is good, none really tall, but our jumping has improved.”
In addition to the blocking, the Hornets hitters will also be up for this week’s game.
“I have several good hitters. Claudia Granados, Maggie Cathcart, Anel and Vanessa Gamboa, and Denise Gonzales. We are setting up with more hitters, and using only one setter at a time, instead of two like we used to,” Lerbakken remarked.
Tonopah
The Lady Muckers looked strong in their league debut against Pahranagat Valley last Friday, despite the loss in three by a score of 25-8, 25-17 and 25-15.
Then on Saturday they took on Word of Life and handed them a loss in three games 25-7, 25-11 and 25-10. With these results the Muckers’ current record in League is 1-1 and 3-45 overall.
The beginning of the season is always difficult, and if you face the current State Champion in the first league game, even more. The Tonopah team fought in Alamo’s court for a win but they found a strong team with a solid program that played big.
Despite the defeat, Muckers Coach Chuck Fox thinks that his team did a good job against Alamo. “Even though the scores don’t show it, I think that the girls played well. It took the first game for them to wake up, (25-8) but they fought in the next two games,” he explained. According to him, the Lady Muckers had a great attitude even when they were down in points. “It is not a great feeling to always be on the negative side but somehow the girls always managed to have fun and keep a smile on their face,” the coach said proudly.
For Senior Madison North, the main problem her team had last Friday was getting into sync. “I think that what got us in Alamo is that even though we were playing well together, we weren’t in sync with each other,” she acknowledged. “On Saturday, we were in sync, all calling the ball, moving together for the coverage. We were all flowing together, making sure there was someone being set up at the end of every play.”
The Tonopah seniors had the control over both games of last week. Shae Robertson, Sandra Dunn, Megan Donham, Kathy Swafford, Lauren Snyder and Maddi North played great in each of the league games. However, Fox said that each of the ladies on the team played a part in the success of the Lady Muckers on Saturday. Against Word of Life, Dunn had 10 serves, 8 aces and 4 kills; Swafford had 12 serves and 3 aces; Robertson had 11 serves, 2 aces, 19 sets and 16 attempts; Donham had 9 sets, 3 assists and 6 kills.
Tonopah’s next opponent is at Sandy Valley at 4 p.m.
Alba Amoros contributed to this story.
