Lady Tigers drop home-opening heartbreaker

Nevada High School senior Jade Feller (1) and junior Trinity Gayman (18) protect the net during the Lady Tigers' 3-2 loss to Pleasant Hill Thursday night inside Wynn Gymnasium.

Photo by Hank Layton | Daily Mail Sports Reporter

The Nevada High School volleyball team dropped to 1-5 following a five-set loss in its home opener Thursday against Pleasant Hill — but that record can be deceiving.

The Lady Tigers have played some stiff competition to start the season and learned something new with every loss.

The lesson from last night: when you’ve got the lead, keep attacking.

“Games like this make us better, because we were put in a scenario in a fifth set against a tough team. We’re up, we’ve got to hold it. That’s what regular season is for,” said NHS head coach Kori Dodson, whose team came out on the losing side of a roller coaster ride of a match (21-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 12-15). “That’s volleyball. It’s a game of momentum, and unfortunately they got it right there at the right time.”

Behind stellar defense — in particular, libero Grace Barnes, who accumulated 16 digs — and aggression at the net — highlighted by 11 kills and five blocks by Delaney Hope and eight kills apiece by Trinity Gayman and Emma Leisure, most of which were teed up by senior setter Jade Feller (35 assists) — Nevada bounced back from four-point losses in the first and third sets — and even had a 12-7 lead in the deciding fifth.

But in a blur, the Chicks (2-4) rattled off eight straight points to stun the home team and crowd.

According to Dodson, the Lady Tigers played it too safe once they had the lead — something she’s confident won’t happen again once the stakes are higher.

“If we come across this in the postseason, hopefully we’ll say, ‘Oh, we’ve done this before. This is what we need to do,’” said Dodson, whose team will get its first chance to respond on Saturday at the William Chrisman Tournament.