DON McDERMOTT / PVT Matt Everts, 5, the Beatty quarterback, hands off to Josh Jerkins, 22, in the Hornets' 56-6 loss to homestanding Tonopah, in a Nevada Class A Central Division football game Friday night. The Muckers clinched at least a tie for their third consecutive division title. Advertisement

A split with homestanding Round Mountain will be enough to insure Tonopah a No. 1 seed in the Southern Nevada Class A Regional Volleyball tournament, to be played Nov. 4 at Lund.

The Muckers play the Knights at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in a doubleheader that will decide the division regular-season title. Tonopah is 8-0, while Round Mountain has one loss, after its split with Lund Friday.

Tonopah defeated visiting Beatty 25-8, 25-21 and 25-21, 25-21 in a division match Friday, dropping the Hornets to 0-8 against Central opponents. Beatty will at home against Indian Springs Thursday, as part of the Hornets' Homecoming celebration.

"I think it will be a good match against Lund," said Judy Boni, the Tonopah coach. "It will be important how they did against Round Mountain." Boni later learned the teams split their division doubleheader.

The Muckers, 24-8 in all matches, got strong games from Maci McLauchlin (24 points, five aces, six kills, two blocks); Kristi Glover (12 kills, four blocks); Brittany Vallarino (11 points, six aces); Liz Boni (14 assists, nine points, five aces, four kills), and Julie Dowers (four kills, four points).

Beatty, after losing the first two games, battled hard to get back into contention in the first game of the second match. The Hornets held 12-5, 15-7 and 19-17 leads before the Muckers went on an 8-2 run to close out that game.

In the nightcap of the second match, the play of McLauchlin and Glover at the net sparked the Muckers to a 5-0 lead. Beatty closed to 11-10 and 19-18, before the Maci-Kristi combination powered helped produce game, set, and match points.