RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT Beatty volleyball players go through drills, in preparation for their season opener Friday afternoon at Laughlin. The Lady Hornets will compete in the Pahrump Valley Invitational Sept. 1-2. Advertisement

BEATTY -- The Beatty High School football and girls volleyball teams travel to Laughlin Friday to open their 2006 fall campaigns.

For Gus Sullivan, it will be a new adventure; he has replaced the veteran Bruce Moen as the Hornets' football coach.

For Mike Duszynski, Friday's action will be the 11th season opener, with the junior varsity-varsity doubleheader to start at 3 p.m. on the Cougars' court. Laughlin is a Nevada Class A Southern Division member, while Beatty is in the Central Division.

"I have no idea what Laughlin has, since we haven't played them in quite a while," said Duszynski. "We will be working on several things -- serve-receive, blocking, and to see how well the girls work together."

Five seniors -- Lorraine True, Charley Underwood, Amber White, Sheeva Morgan and Daniella Moreno -- lead the roster, which includes three juniors, five sophomores and 10 freshmen.

The juniors are Chriscel Rankin, Karli Rust and Jennifer Porte, with the sophomore contingent including Naomi Cruz, Nicole Stucker, Autumn Spicer, Idhaly Flores and Anna Gonzalez.

The freshmen are Chelsea Cathcart, Jessica Cummings, Heather Dunsterville, Kaci Schroeder, Ariel Spicer, Crystal Williams, Chambria Dawson, Raychel Gaitan, Nicole VanAlstine and Alejandra Gonzalez. Patti Duszynski will be the assistant coach for the 10th time.

Autumn Spicer is the tallest Hornet at 5-10, with Ariel Spicer and Underwood at 5-9. At 5-7 are True, White and Rust. Returning starters include True, Underwood, White and Porte.

Duszynski wants his team to be more aggressive at the net, blocking and spiking the ball. "In a scrimmage at Tonopah, we got a wall going at the net, blocking the ball -- something we hadn't done much of in the past," said the coach. "At Laughlin, we will look for people who are best at doing what needs to be done."

Beatty is entered in the Pahrump Valley Invitational Tournament Sept. 1-2; see Page 7B for pairings.