By Breven Honda
The fall 2025 high school athletics season is under way and the Virgin Valley High School girls volleyball team is excited to begin the new year.
The Bulldogs are coming off a strong season where they went 26-9 overall and finished second in the 3A South-Desert standings. However, their season came to an end in the league semifinals, losing to the eventual 3A State Champions, The Meadows School.
Head coach Kortney Tobler said her team could not wait for the season to begin coming off a successful season, looking to make a deeper postseason run.
“We were really strong last year. We had a good team, and we couldn’t quite pull it off at the end, but we were so close,” said Tobler, who is coaching her third season of girls volleyball at Virgin Valley. “It’s been fun because it feels a lot like we are picking up where we left off last year, like right into it with same skill level, and getting better every day.
“We’re coming in with a really good mindset, just feeling confident and strong. We know we can be contenders this year.”
This year’s Virgin Valley volleyball squad is filled with two seniors and two juniors while the rest of the team are sophomores and freshmen.
Senior Hayden Owsley led the team with 201 kills last year, which ranked fourth in the league. The second senior is Julia Leavitt, who was third on the team and sixth in the league with 143 kills a season ago.
“We’re definitely looking at those two to be our leaders in terms of hitting, offense and blocking,” Tobler said of Owsley and Leavitt. “They are really strong players, really smart athletes.
“These kids have been playing varsity ball for a long time. They play three sports, so they’re super talented and they definitely bring a level of experience and knowledge to the game that for sure influences our team in a good way.”
Outside of juniors Mahttie Mulitalo and Mady Wright, Leavitt and Owsley are tasked with leading the roster that has five sophomores and two freshmen.
“There’s no question that those seniors are huge, just being able to reinforce the culture and teach the younger kids what it looks like be on a varsity team, and the expectations that we have,” Tobler said. “A lot of that’s going to come from them, when they’re holding their team accountable and being able to lead by example and take those girls under their wings.
“The best part is that they were those younger girls. Those two were doing that when they were freshmen and they were taught by seniors. So, it is cool to see it come around for them to have the opportunity to take these young kids under their wings and show them how it goes.”
As a result, the underclassmen have needed to take a big step forward to learn rather quickly what it takes to play at the varsity level for a team that wants to win late in October and into November.
Tobler said she has seen the adjustments her sophomores and freshmen have made while continuing to learn and play against top competition.
“For several of them, it’s like a big step,” she said. “Some freshmen coming in have not played at this speed or this level, and I’m just crazy impressed with them. They work really hard, and they’re coachable. So, that’s all we can ask for, and I think they’re doing an awesome job. Our sophomores is a pretty strong volleyball class. They have played quite a bit of volleyball in their lives, and they bring a good set of experience and strength as well.”
On Aug. 22-23, Virgin Valley played six games and went 3-3 in the process during a non-league weekend tournament, including winning its final two matches against Somerset Sky Pointe of Las Vegas and Layton Christian Academy of Utah.
Against Somerset, who plays one division higher than Virgin Valley in the 4A South, the Bulldogs were able to take down the Eagles in three sets, 2-1.
As Leavitt and Owsley combined for 15 of the team’s 20 kills, sophomore setter Mayzie Tobler recorded 10 assists, three kills, five service aces, eight digs and two blocks, nearly recording a double-double in assists and digs. Sophomore Kinley Hughes added four service aces and six digs as the Bulldogs won the first set 27-25 before claiming the third and final set 15-12.
After a four-set victory to Green Valley Christian on Aug. 25, Virgin Valley began 3A South League play two days later against Pahrump Valley.
Tobler is hoping that their non-league schedule has prepped them for a difficult road that lies ahead.
“We love the good games. We want to really challenge ourselves as much as we can in the preseason and any chance we get for tournaments,” she said. That kind of thing is so important for us to find tough opponents and see our weaknesses better, so that we can get better faster.”
