Carson volleyball sweeps North Valleys

Forgive the Carson High volleyball team if it was just going through the motions on Tuesday, but it has a couple of huge matches coming up.

The Senators made quick work of North Valleys, sweeping the Panthers 25-13, 25-13, 25-20 at Morse Burley Gym heading into today's home match against McQueen and Thursday's contest at South Tahoe.

Carson (6-5 in the Sierra League) is in a strong position to take fourth in the Sierra League and make the Northern 4A playoffs. The Senators will find out a lot more about how they stack up in the Northern 4A when they play one of the High Desert League's better teams in McQueen today.

"We scheduled it to get to see the other side," Carson coach Shana Wilkins said. "It's just a way to see how the other side is doing and how we stack up."

The Senators can lock up a playoff spot with a win at South Tahoe. While Carson swept the Vikings at home in their first meeting, South Tahoe has played much better at home, with one highlight being a five-game loss to Douglas on its floor.

Even if Carson loses to South Tahoe, it can still likely clinch a playoff spot with a win next week against Wooster, but Wilkins obviously doesn't want her team's postseason fate to have to come to that.

"If we lose to them it makes a pretty sticky situation," said Wilkins about South Tahoe.

Against North Valleys, Carson fell behind 6-2 in game two and 11-6 in game three, but was able to rally. "Skill-wise we played well," Wilkins said. "We just didn't have a lot of energy."

Nikki Keller's kill made it 23-13 in game one and then Morgan Nuckolls served an ace on game point.

After falling behind in game two, Breanna Anderson began a string of serving five straight points with an ace to give Carson an 8-6 lead. Blaike King and Danae Eckart had kills during the rally.

King began a 6-0 run with a kill and then served for five straight points to make it 19-11. Anderson had a block during the run. Kailey Taylor's kill off the tape, Angelica Blade's ace, Keller's block and Ford's ace on game point finished off the Panthers in game two.

Nuckolls' block and Taylor's quick hit off a Ford's set cut the Panthers' lead to 12-9 in game three. Carson took a 16-15 lead in Nuckolls' ace, Ford's block and Taylor's kill.

Keller's dink and kill on back-to-back quick sets from Ford, a Ford ace and Shannon Earwood's kill and block gave Carson a 23-17 lead. Taylor's block put it away on match point.

Taylor had six kills, Keller had five kills and five blocks, Nuckolls had four aces, King had three blocks, a dig and two kills, Blade had six digs and Ford had three blocks, two digs, two aces and 19 assists.

CHS JVS 2, NORTH VALLEYS 0

Carson won the junior varsity match 25-22, 25-22. Lisa Shores had four digs, Sam Hoch had two kills, Meagan Nuckolls had two aces and 13 assists, Christal Rains had one kill, Kristina Diamond had three blocks, Karli Dodge had two kills and a block, Sarah Kerkla had two aces and a kill, Brittney Sly had four aces and a dig, Ashley Anderson and Brittany Wyatt each had one kill and three digs and Megan Hein added two kills.

CHS FROSH 2, NORTH VALLEYS 0

Carson (16-3) won the freshmen match 25-18, 25-21. Katie Carlevato had seven aces and two kills, Skylar Petersen had one dig, five aces and one kill, Andrea Clutska had two blocks, two aces and seven kills, Sara Anderson had nine assists, one block and four aces, Bree Young had two aces and a kill, Kaitlin Berkich had five aces, Kendra Krupp had one block and four kills, Jamie Showalter had a block and three kills and Amanda Rupert added an ace.