Laughlin Times: Local

LAUGHLIN - Coach Elisa Candelaria observed “it was not a pretty victory” - but a win, nonetheless - on Sept. 29 in the Cougars Den as Laughlin High School's youthful varsity volleyball team held on to down the Boulder City High School Lady Eagles junior varsity, 3-1.

The LHS victory was its third in a row, going into the Oct. 2 hosting of Henderson Lake Mead Christian Academy.

BCHS' freshman squad edged the LHS JVs, 2-1, by winning the second and third games, 25-22 and 16-14, after LHS captured the first game, 25-16.

In the varsity match, the Silver and Blue easily bested the Blue and Yellow in the first and second games, 25-14 and 25-9, then collapsed in the third game, 25-18, as the Lady Eagles forced overtime in the fourth game before falling, 26-24.

The Lady Cougars managed only one streak for more than two points on serves each in the third and fourth games - compared to four skeins in the second game and two in the first game.

“I'm not sure what happened in that third game,” the Laughlin coach commented. “I've seen nothing like it all year. We lost a lot of points on our serves” - usually a strong point for the Lady Cougars. “And we made a lot of mental errors,” she added.

The home town girls revived enough in the final game, trailing closely until finally gaining the lead, 13-12, although the visitors tied it at 13-13 and 24-24. The decisive point came with Melody Clarke serving.

If BCHS had won the fourth game, the girls would have had played a 15-point tie-breaker.

For the day's work, Elisa Daniels scored 10 aces, Jordan Wright tallied five (frequently on sets by Terran Drescher), with Pi Viriyakul and Brianna Manning adding four each. Wright had six kills and Viriyakul four digs.

Laughlin will travel to Beatty on Oct. 9 before its final home matches on Oct. 15 (Henderson International - JVs at 4 p.m., varsity at 5 p.m.) and Oct. 16 (Sandy Valley - varsity only at 4 and 5 p.m.).

Road journeys to Indian Springs on Oct. 20 and Lund, an hour north of Pahranagat Valley at Alamo, on Oct. 23 will conclude the independent status season.

Down two starters, Lady Cougars drop the ball against Lake Mead Christian Academy

By JIM MANIACI, Laughlin Nevada Times

LAUGHLIN - With two starters out of action, the Laughlin High School volleyball team stayed somewhat close the first game, then faded as Lake Mead Christian Academy claimed a 3-0 match on Friday, Oct. 2, in the Cougars Den.

The visitors from Henderson won 25-17, 25-11 and 25-8 with the Lady Cougars lacking Elisa Daniels and Brianna Manning. The Navy and Gold also won the JV match 25-23, 17-25 and 15-8.

Coach Eliza Candelaria said LMCA didn't seemed to have improved since a tournament earlier this year, while she feels the Lady Cougars have upped their level of play considerably.

The Henderson girls used line-drive curveball serves to keep the Silver and Blue diving to the floor for digs, but senior librero (free substitute) Pi Viriyakul got only five of them to lead Laughlin and freshman Brooke Lee tallied four aces on serves plus two kills.

On Oct. 9, LHS will travel to Beatty.