The Battle Mountain High School volleyball team dropped a pair of Division III matches at home this past weekend.
The Lady Longhorns were swept in three sets by North Tahoe on Friday and in three sets as well on Saturday morning to Incline 25-16, 25-20 and 25-15. Battle Mountain is now 1-4 in league play.
Against Incline, Battle Mountain scored three of the first four points of the first set, only to see the Highlanders turn the fortunes around and go up 12-6 on the strength of an 11-4 run.
An ace by Sammi Wilson brought the Lady Longhorns within a point at 15-14, but Incline scored the next five points. An ace by Abby Melver stopped the run, however, the Highlanders countered with the final five points to win the set.
Battle Mountain scored the opening point of the second set, when Incline took control and led by as many as 10 points at 16-6. Kills by Melver and Yulisa Vazquez allowed the Lady Longhorns to cut the margin to single digits.
The Highlanders had set point, leading 24-15, but had trouble closing out the Lady Longhorns. Battle Mountain used a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 24-20, only to see Incline score the next point.
The Highlanders ran with that momentum, scoring the first six points of the third set and forcing the Lady Longhorns to call timeout. The break in the action worked, as on the next play out of the break, Incline hit its serve in the net, and ending the rally.
The Highlanders stretched their lead to 17-6, when Battle Mountain used a 4-0 run, capped off by kills by Vazquez and Sarah Mills to trim the gap to 17-10. Battle Mountain got no closer, with Incline finishing the match on an 8-5 run.
BMHS falls to Wells in five-set thriller
When Battle Mountain hosted Wells on Tuesday, Sept. 15, it was a down to the wire, five-set win for the Leopards, a Division IV school.
The two schools saw each other again, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as the Lady Longhorns made the trip to Wells. It turned out to be a near carbon-copy of the first meeting, with the Leopards winning 27-29, 25-16, 25-14, 20-25 and 15-13.
After winning the first set in extra points, Battle Mountain saw Wells claim the next two sets in easy fashion. The Lady Longhorns did not go down without a fight to win the fourth set.
Just as it was the case in the first meeting, Wells was able to hold on for the five-set victory.
Battle Mountain was on the road to face Eureka on Tuesday and results were not available at press time. The Lady Longhorns host West Wendover on Saturday at 1 p.m.
