DON McDERMOTT / PVT Lindsey Cummings, 5, awaits a serve in the Pahrump Valley girls' volleyball match against host Henderson Green Valley in the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament Friday. The PV girls finished 4-4 in the two-day spikers' marathon. Advertisement

HENDERSON -- A short-handed Pahrump Valley High School volleyball team struggled in the always tough Las Vegas Invitational this past weekend, winning four of eight matches, including a 2-0 loss to Southern Nevada Class 3-A League rival Overton Moapa Valley.

Michelle Dannenberger (sore knee) and Kristi Daffer (aching shoulder) had their considerable playing talents hindered by those aches and pains as the Trojans went 1-2 on Friday, won two of three matches Saturday morning, then went 1-1 in Bronze Bracket matches in the afternoon.

"We tried to make the plays, but most of our girls don't have the knowledge yet, and need to be shown what to do in certain situations," said Richard Barker, who debuted as the PVHS coach Friday at Green Valley High School here. The Trojans didn't lose to any weaklings throughout their two-day stay in Henderson.

On Friday, youthful but tall Green Valley used its considerable size at the net to beat the PV girls 25-18, 25-17, and even bigger Snow Canyon, Utah, prevailed 25-12, 25-17. The Trojans won by forfeit against no-show Las Vegas Cimarron-Memorial, but in a fill-in match arranged by the tourney directors, Pahrump Valley defeated the Henderson Foothill JVs, 25-14, 25-13.

The Trojans lost 25-10, 25-13 to Rancho, then defeated Eldorado 21-25, 27-25, 15-12 and Arbor View 25-19, 18-25, 15-12 to finish second in a consolation pool.

In the Bronze Division bracket tournament, Pahrump Valley eliminated Las Vegas Valley 25-22, 25-10, before losing 25-18, 25-19 to Moapa Valley in the semifinals. Moapa Valley, which won 13 consecutive state Class 3-A championships from 1991 through 2003, is young and not big, but the Pirates still have veteran coach and dynasty-builder Matt Musser in charge.

"It was a decent match, but we went into it banged up; we had three girls injured, so what we did was rotate one of those girls in to give us six players on the court," said Barker. Also shaken up was sophomore setter Ashley Humbert.

Also on the team roster for the Las Vegas trip were Ashley Rencher, Angelica Villa, Karen Visser, Lindsey Cummings, Frankie Beatty, and Brittany Lindgren.

Barker wants his team to show "enthusiasm" for the game, as well as expecting the Lady Trojans to play defense and run parallel to the net to get spikes and blocks. Pahrump Valley hosts its own invitational tournament Friday and Saturday, so Barker will get another opportunity to see how much improvement his team makes in those areas.

"What we will try to do is find some consistency on defense," said Barker. "We have a lot of new kids on the team who are going to have to be taught."

Moapa Valley lost 25-16, 25-20 and Durango 25-20, 25-18 before stopping Foothill 27-25, 25-17 Friday. On Saturday, the Lady Pirates lost 25-19, 25-16 to Cedar City, Utah, before beating Henderson Basic 25-10, 25-23 and Las Vegas 25-27, 26-24, 17-15 to earn a Bronze Division bracket spot.

The Pirates defeated Southern 3-A rival Boulder City 15-25, 25-15, 15-13 and Pahrump Valley to battle their way into the finals, where they fell to Las Vegas, 25-23, 22-25, 11-15.

Defending regular-season and Southern regional 3-A champion Faith Lutheran was 2-1 Friday, with the Crusaders stopping Arbor View 25-6, 25-5 and Valley 25-10, 25-16 around a 24-26, 23-25 loss to Lone Peak, Utah. On Saturday, playing in the championship brackets at Las Vegas, Faith Lutheran was 1-3, beating Pine View, Utah, 25-21, 15-25, 16-14, but losing 25-18, 25-17 to Snow Canyon, 25-18, 25-18 to Bishop Gorman, and 24-26, 25-10, 25-11 to Centennial.