The Tonopah High School girls volleyball team was knocked out of the league playoffs after losing their first-round matchup against the Round Mountain Knights on Saturday.
The Lady Muckers went into the 1A Central League playoffs as the No. 3 seed after finishing the regular season with a 10-12-1 record and a 6-4 record in league play.
This was the third meeting between the two teams this year. After a 3-set sweep by the Knights in the first matchup, the Muckers made the second match much closer.
Tonopah forced the second game to five sets, but, ultimately, Round Mountain prevailed.
Saturday’s game went much like the first meeting this season.
Round Mountain was led by their senior hitter Kellee Berg.
Berg led both teams in kills, with nine, and aces, with four. She also had 19 digs to lead all players in the game.
The Knights took all three sets for their second sweep of the season over the Muckers.
Tonopah was led by junior Savannah Muns in the aces department. She finished the 3-set game with three aces in her 12 serve attempts.
Montana Strozzi and Rylee Crawford were the only other Muckers to finish with aces against the Knights.
Tonopah will have most of their players returning next season. They’ll be losing seniors Strozzi and Olivia Bayne.
This is Bayne’s first year on varsity for the Muckers, while Strozzi is a 4-year varsity member and this season’s team captain.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.