GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Legacy protects home court, wins Longhorn Invitational

Legacy volleyball players pranced around their home gym and gleefully dismantled the net, stacked chairs and took care of various other equipment used in the Longhorn Invitational.

Victory breeds happiness.

The Longhorns won their own six-team tournament with a 19-25, 25-17, 15-10 over Moapa Valley in the championship final on Saturday afternoon. They were awarded a three-foot trophy immediately afterward, and sprinted toward the bleachers to celebrate with family and friends.

“We expected it,” Legacy coach Amber Lefevers said as she playfully rebuffed her player’s requests for pictures. “It’s our own tournanment. It’s something that we really wanted. But basically, it was really to get as much play as we could just to better for our upcoming big games that we have this week, and really just to improve. I think we did.”

The Longhorns navigated pool play with wins over Pahrump Valley and Spring Valley yesterday to set the stage for Saturday’s tournament bracket. They beat Basic and Moapa Valley before meeting the Pirates again in the championship.

Different stage.

Same result.

Moapa Valley rallied to claim the first set, but Legacy overpowered the Pirates in the second and third sets. The Longhorns served accurately and forced Moapa Valley to scramble, which set up easy kills for Legacy hitters.

Kiana Carter finished with 12 kills, a block and three service aces. Alyssa Fuller had 20 digs and an ace, and Kamaile Mendonsa had one kill, one ace and 31 assists.

Pirates coach Mandie Matheson was pleased with the weekend despite the loss and said the tournament offered her team a look at some new opponents.

“It’s kind of nice because if you make any adjustments in your lineup, you can iron it out at the tournament,” Matheson. “It puts you in the pressure situations of being in a championship match and having things on the line.”

Moapa Valley players remained cheerful after the match and also posed for pictures with their second-place trophy before departing the gym, leaving the Longhorns to tend to the equipment and wrap up the weekend.

Longhorns senior Kassidy DeSchepper said it felt good to win the tournament at home after coming up short in past years.

“Normally this tournament is really competitive, and we’ve come in second and third a bunch of times,” she said. “It was finally nice to prepare and make sure we got that first-place spot.”