Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Carson's Nick Smallman competes with doubles partner Chris Wear on Tuesday afternoon at CHS.
The Carson High boys tennis team will face its moment of truth on Thursday when it plays at Galena in the Northern 4A semifinals.
At stake will be a trip to the NIAA 4A State Championships as the winner will qualify for state. Carson advanced to the semifinals at Galena with a 12-6 win over McQueen on Tuesday at the CHS courts.
It will be a tough task for Carson against the Grizzlies, who are coming off an impressive 16-2 win over Douglas on Tuesday in their playoff match.
Carson lost three close matches, including two tiebreakers against McQueen, but coach Pat Houlihan said he hopes his team faces the same kind of pressure on Thursday.
"I call it pressure points," he said. "We've got to play the pressure points well. We play tiebreakers in practice.
"It's a different mentality. When you start off bad you've got to turn it around. We'll have a good, hard practice, getting ready for what we need to do. We'll see where we stand."
Houlihan also stressed he's been pleased with his team's progress. "I'm proud of the kids," he said. "I'm pretty happy with the way the kids performed. I'm pleased with the performance both of singles and doubles."
Spencer Brinson lost a tiebreaker 6-7 (4-7) and Nick Smallman and Chris Wear lost 6-7 (5-7) in doubles. Jordan Rogers and James Pelz also lost 5-7 after leading 5-2.
The losses by Brinson and Rogers and Pelz allowed allowed McQueen to tie Carson 3-3 after the first round. But Brinson, Rogers, Pelz and all the Senators responded, winning five of the next six matches to take an 8-4 lead and control after the second round.
Brinson won his other matches 6-3, 6-0 and Rogers and Pelz won their other matches 6-3, 6-4. Bryt Lewis and Brad Cobler swept 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and Smallman and Wear won their other matches 6-4, 6-3. In singles, Jeff Van Epps won 6-3, 6-4 and Ben Henningson won 6-2.
MCQUEEN 13, CHS GIRLS 5
Carson finished the year 8-3 after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. "It was a successful year," Carson coach Diane Baker Roberts said.
Roberts said Lisa Midboe and Christa Casci both had outstanding years and should receive high seeds in the Northern 4A singles and doubles championships. Midboe and Casci will be Carson's singles players while Sarah Asp and Michelle Mauer will be one of two doubles teams for the Senators.
Against McQueen, Casci won 6-1 and 6-2 and Tiffany Moore won 6-4 in singles. In doubles, Paige Miller and Jenna Greenburg won 6-4 and Meghan Craig and Asp won 7-6 (12-10). Jenni Hood and Kristi Philippi also played well in a 5-7 loss.
GALENA 16, DOUGLAS BOYS 2
Colin Davis swept 6-1, 6-0, 6-2, Chris Schwartz won 6-0, John Baldwin won 6-1 and Jeremy Grubbs won 6-4 in singles for Galena. Shane Leeder also beat the Tigers' Marshall Jessup 7-5. Robert Shawhan picked up the Tigers' only two wins, winning 6-3, 6-2.