The Carson High volleyball team looks to be a team that will be tough to beat heading into the Northern 4A Playoffs.
Carson came close to knocking off Sierra League co-champion Reno High at Reno on Thursday before falling 23-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-23, 7-15. Reno and Damonte Ranch finished in a tie for first in the Sierra League while the Senators finished fourth.
The Senators will open the Northern 4A playoffs a week from today at 8 p.m. against Galena at Galena. Carson has shown it can play with the top teams as it also had five-game losses to Damonte Ranch and McQueen down the stretch.
Carson was able to overcome a five-point deficit in the fourth game to force a game five.
"We played great," Carson coach Shana Wilkins said. "It was so close. We just couldn't finish it.
"We played awesome. We played the best we could against the No. 1 team. My kids just played an awesome match."
Carson received huge efforts at the net from Kailey Taylor (11 kills, 10 blocks), Nikki Keller (six kills, 10 blocks and a dig) and Lindsay Ford (nine blocks, one dig, six aces, 38 assists). In addition, the Senators received a huge defensive effort from Angelica Blade, who had 29 digs.
Also for Carson, Nicole Carelvato had seven kills, one ace, six digs and one block, Breann Anderson had five kills, eight digs and two blocks and Mavil Diaz had 13 digs, one ace and one kill.
GALENA 3, REED 2
Galena (20-10, 10-2) clinched the High Desert League's No. 1 seed into the playoffs with a 25-10, 25-19, 14-25, 20-25, 15-4 win. Nancy Burrows had 24 kills and 17 digs, Casey Burke had 10 kills, 11 digs and three blocks, Madison Hardy had six kills, 41 assists, two aces, 10 digs and three blocks, Amy Scott had four kills and three blocks, Brooke Keever had an ace and 15 digs, Bree Crook had one ace and 10 digs and Emily Aguiar added eight blocks.
CHS FROSH 2, RENO 1
Carson finished the year at 20-3 after beating Reno 25-13, 19-25, 15-6. Andrea Clutska had eight kills, three digs, three aces and two blocks, Sara Anderson had five kills, two digs, eight aces and 10 assists, Sklyar Petersen had two kills, two digs and three aces, Bree Young had five kills, five aces, one block and two assists, Kendra Krupp had six kills and six blocks, Alexis Church had three digs and an ace, Jamie Showalter had one block and Amand Rupert added an ace.