BATTLE MOUNTAIN - The Battle Mountain High School volleyball team entered last weekend's Northern 2A Regional Championship with the No. 5 seed but had the luxury of hosting the two-day event.
The Lady Longhorns took on fourth-seeded North Tahoe in a quarterfinal matchup on Friday afternoon. Battle Mountain fought hard in a five-game match but was unable to earn the victory, as the Lakers won 25-17, 25-12, 20-25, 15-25 and 15-12.
"I have been saying all season that we are young and we definitely showed that the first two games of the match," said BMHS head coach Sondra Torgerson. "We were nervous and scared and that affected our play. Once we decided to loosen up and play we were able to play and beat the Lakers. I'm proud of the girls for showing character and not just rolling over and giving up in the third game."
After losing the first two games, the Lady Longhorns fought back and won the third and fourth by shutting down the Lakers' only strong hitter, Lexie Courcier. Battle Mountain started out the fifth game strong, leading 7-2, but Courcier had a down the line hit that sparked the Lakers and made the Longhorns a bit nervous. After that, the game went back and forth until 12-11, where the Lady Longhorns were unable to complete some plays and the Lakers won the match.
Pooja Bhakta had a double-double on the day with 28 assists and 17 digs to go with four aces, while Abbie Mikelson had 19 kills, six digs, four blocks and one ace. Amanda Wallock added nine digs, Kalin Nelson six digs, five kills and two assists and Gabby Cruz 10 digs. Sam Samuelson had six digs, three kills and two aces, Hannah Hale nine kills and Kelsey Kroll five assists, three kills, one block and one dig.
"We made quite a bit of improvement by the end of the season if you look back to how they were playing in early September," Torgerson said. "We are losing three seniors, but all of our front row players are back and I'm excited for next year."
Yerington defeated Whittell in three games to win the regional championship. Both teams advance to the 2A State Championships this Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas.
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