It was one of those night where you figured it would be a long match between rivals Battle Mountain and Pershing County.
The two schools did not disappoint the volleyball fans with a five-set thriller.
The squads split the first four sets and the Lady Longhorns looked poised to win the match in the fifth set, leading 14-11.
However, the Mustangs scored the final five points of the fifth set and won the match 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 19-25 and 16-14.
Battle Mountain took the 14-11 lead after a kill by Brynnlee Freeman and with match point still in reach at 14-12, a hitting error by the Lady Longhorns closed the gap to 14-13. On the next point, Pershing County senior Presley Burrows tied the set at 14-14 and won the match for the Mustangs on the next point with another kill.
In the opening set of the night, Pershing County scored 11 of the first 13 points. Battle Mountain slowly climbed back in the set with a kill from Freeman, an ace by Lilliana Haney and two more aces from Shea Jones to close the gap to 15-13 and forcing Pershing County to call timeout.
Out of the break, the Mustangs scored the next three points to lead 18-13, but the Lady Longhorns rallied to tie the set at 23-23. Battle Mountain gave the advantage right back on a missed serve and Pershing County won the set on the next point.
Battle Mountain led from the start in the second set, with Freeman picking up two kills in the first three points. Behind kills from Yezzel Guizar and Freeman and an ace by Jones, Battle Mountain extended the lead to 20-12.
Pershing County fought back and trailed 23-22, when a Freeman kill gave the Lady Longhorns set point. Battle Mountain won the set two points later.
The Mustangs dominated the third set and led 21-10, when Freeman started a rally with a kill. Jones followed with three straight aces to close the gap to 22-16 but the Lady Longhorns could not get any closer.
It was Battle Mountain’s turn to take over in the fourth set, picking up aces from Marena Fuller, Freeman, Haney and Jones to take a comfortable lead. Cristina Holley also had a kill in the set.
Freeman finished the night with 12 kills and ace, Guizar had five kills and Holley two. Jones had nine of Battle Mountain’s 17 aces, with Fuller adding three and Haney two.
Battle Mountain is scheduled to travel to West Wendover on Friday.
