The Lady Serpents jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the best of three series, lost game two and battled back to win the match late in the deciding game.The Mineral County High volleyball team earned a double-header split on Saturday when they traveled to Sage Ridge High School for its second conference matchup of the young season.

The Lady Serpents jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the best of three series, lost game two and battled back to win the match late in the deciding game.

The second match was much like the first, except for the final outcome. The two teams were tied one game apiece, and the Lady Serpents fell 15-13 in a hard fought third game.

“They played fantastic, we were competitive all day,” said Mineral County coach Shelley Tweedy. “The girls are playing really good volleyball right now.”

Earlier in the week on Tuesday, the Lady Serpents took Whittell to the limit before losing 3-2 in the best of five series.

Despite being one of the youngest teams in the conference, Mineral County has looked like a veteran team in its first two games. The Lady Serpents lost five seniors to graduation from the 2013 squad, but feature a starting rotation that has been together since middle school.

Tweedy credits her teams’ early success to having good team chemistry.

“They’ve come together as a team and support each other no matter what,” she said. “We have three really strong captains (Jesslynn Knight, Taylor McFalls and Olivia Hawk) that are tremendous in pulling the girls together.”

In comparison to last year’s squad, serving has been a huge boost so far this season. Tweedy said service lost the 2013 team 50 percent of its games, while the starting six of the current team have been successful in over 80 percent of its serves.

“We’ve been in every game this year, and it really helps when the ball is put into play and we are giving any points away,” she said.

Competition figures to be tough in the IV Northern West division as it is every year. Tweedy looks at powerhouses Virginia City and Smith Valley to be at the top all season, but thinks her team could be in that mix if they play their game.

“We have some really good teams in our division, but we should be competitive in all of our games,” she said. “I think we have a good shot to make it to zone as long as they hold together and continue to improve.”

The Lady Serpents travel to Excel Christian this Saturday before playing at Coleville on Sept. 23. They will play their first home game of the season against Virginia City on Sept. 26.