HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Angelica Villa, 8, and libero Brittney Lindgren complete a play for the Pahrump Valley High School volleyball team, in its loss Tuesday to visiting Pahranagat Valley Alamo. Advertisement

Commit 16 unforced errors in a rally-scoring volleyball match and a team is bound to have trouble.

That is what the Pahrump Valley High School girls team did Tuesday, in a 29-27 loss that lifted visiting Pahranagat Valley Alamo to a four-set victory. The Trojans lost 25-22 in the first game of the best-of-five match, then squared it at 1-1 with a 25-19 win.

The Panthers, Nevada's Class A defending champions, had nowhere the skill level they had the previous four seasons, when Kalee Whipple was the monster middle hitter. But solid skills taught by coach Ginger Shumway generated a consistent attack that led to 25-21 and 29-27 victories in games three and four to give Alamo the victory.

Pahrump Valley fell to 11-7 on the season, while Alamo is 2-0 since going 5-3 in the Trojans' invitational tournament earlier this month.

Shanae Canning, a 5-foot-6 sophomore outside hitter and a cousin of the Higbees (who were key players for Alamo for several seasons), led Alamo to victory with several clutch hits into spaces not covered by PV defenders.

In the decisive fourth game, Canning's all-around floor play -- setting, digging, hitting -- led Alamo back from deficits of 15-11, 21-17 and 23-21. Twice, the Trojans had a one-point lead with the ball, but a serve out of bounds enabled Alamo to tie it at 27-27. The Panthers scored the next two points off an illegal hit and an ace.

In Game 3, the Panthers trailed 3-1, but scored 11 of the next 16 points to take a lead that was threatened only twice. The Trojans tied it at 15-15 on a service error; Alamo, however, went on a 10-6 run to take a 2-1 advantage. Two unforced errors and a failed serve receive allowed Alamo to prevail in that critical game.

"We were trying some things out (like a jump serve), so I expected us to have some problems there," said Richard Barker, the Trojans' first-year coach." But some of the other things ... " The silence was understandable.

The Trojans got strong play from middle hitters Kristi Daffer and Michelle Dannenberger, along with libero Brittney Lindgren and setter Angelica Villa. The lack of consistency of the other players in the lineup prevented the PVHS girls from mounting a sustained attack offensively.

The Trojans return to action Tuesday at Las Vegas The Meadows, and are back home Sept. 22 to play Lake Mead Christian Academy. The Southern Nevada Class 3-A League season starts Sept. 26 at home against defending regular-season and regional champion Las Vegas Faith Lutheran.