MOSES LAKE — While the final score didn’t fall in the Mavericks’ favor, Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to West Valley (Yakima) was just about as close as a loss could be.

West Valley won the first, third and fourth sets with scores of 27-25, 28-26 and 25-23, respectively.

“That’s something we work on, the mental part of the game,” Moses Lake coach Krystal Trammell said. “I told them ‘We’re driving, and I need everything empty onto that court. Do not leave anything in that tank,’ and that’s what we did tonight.”

Coming off an 11-11 tie in the first set, the Mavericks jumped out to a late lead courtesy of strong serving by junior Madison Bond, who aced on two of her 10 serves that pushed the Moses Lake lead to 21-11. Trammell credited the strong start to the Maverick faithful in the stands.

“Being home, the crowd always helps,” Trammell said. “We love our bullpen.”

The lead wasn’t enough, however, as the Rams stormed back to tie the set at 22, later winning 27-25.

Close sets were a common theme Tuesday night, as three of the four sets were decided by two points, all of which were won by the Rams. Moses Lake won the second set 25-17 with the final point coming off a kill by senior Paytan Andrews.

The pillar of West Valley’s offense came off of spikes by senior Kaitlyn Leaverton, who finished with 22 kills against the Mavs. Moses Lake’s game plan for the Rams was to keep two blockers her way, and three Mavs finished with double-digit blocks; senior Kylee Voss (14), sophomore Kardyn Martinez (13) and Andrews (11).

“We watched a lot of film and when we played them down there, we knew who their big gun was,” Trammell said. “We rotated back a couple of rotations so that our big block Kardyn (Martinez) and Paytan (Andrews) would take her one-on-one.”

West Valley capitalized on a handful of Moses Lake miscues down the stretch of the third and fourth sets to earn its 3-1 win, winning the third set on a double contact call and the fourth set on a missed serve.

“It’s just those little mistakes; missing a serve or hitting out,” Trammell said. “They played really smart, I’m very proud of them.”

Trammell said that Tuesday night, to the best of her knowledge, was the first time Moses Lake had won a set against the Rams.

Senior Makenna Stuart led the Mavericks in kills (10), and senior Raegen Hofheins, Andrews and Bond tied for a team-high in aces (two). Hofheins and Stuart both had 22 digs and junior Kaelsy Wiltbank led with 31 assists.

“The girls have that drive and that desire to show what we are good, and this is what we can do,” Trammell said.

With just two games left in the regular season, Moses Lake travels to Davis on Thursday and hosts Wenatchee on Tuesday; two teams the Mavs have already played and lost to this season.

“The girls showed that we can do it. They showed we’re smart, we’re powerful; we can do this,” Trammell said.

Box Score

West Valley: 27-17-28-25 3

Moses Lake: 25-25-26-23 1