It took a while for the Battle Mountain High School volleyball team to shake off the nerves and rust in its return to the floor for the first time in 15 months.
The Lady Longhorns were on their home floor on Friday night to host West Wendover. After dropping the first set 25-21, Battle Mountain bounced back to win the final three sets 25-18, 25-17 and 25-22.
Anahi Lopez gave Battle Mountain an early 2-1 lead in the opening set, as the play went back-and-forth with the teams trading points.
A kill by Brynnlee Freeman, kept the Lady Longhorns within a one-point deficit at 10-9, when the Wolverines scored the next three points.
Battle Mountain hurt itself as well in the opening set with six missed serves. Addi Slaybaugh kept Battle Mountain within striking distance with three points, but West Wendover held off a late rally.
Behind back-to-back aces from Freeman, the Lady Longhorns raced out to 5-2 advantage. Freeman went on to add a kill in the second set, as Battle Mountain quickly bounced back to even the match.
The Lady Longhorns took that momentum and ran with it in the final two sets to earn the victory.
Battle Mountain had 21 kills on the night, with Lopez leading the way with six. Freeman added five, Lolly Argueta four, Slaybaugh three Christina Holley two and Marena Fuller one. In addition Argueta had three blocks.
Despite 16 service errors, Battle Mountain had 17 aces on the night. Shea Jones and Lopez each had four aces, Fuller three, Kathy Lopez, Freeman and Slaybaugh had two apiece.
Battle Mountain traveled to Lovelock on Tuesday to face Pershing County. Results were not available at press time.
The Lady Longhorns are scheduled to travel to Silver Springs to play Silver Stage. Battle Mountain returns home on Saturday to play Yerington.