Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Carson's #14 Sandie Howard goes up for a shot during Tuesday's game against Del Monte Mustangs.
The Carson High volleyball team may have had something to build on with its performance in the third game against Damonte Ranch on Tuesday at Morse Burley Gym.
But Carson coach Shana Wilkins said her team still has a long ways to go. Despite pushing the Northern 4A's top team to the limit in the third game, Wilkins still wasn't pleased with her team's overall effort in a 15-25, 13-25, 24-26 loss.
"I don't think we played well at all," Wilkins said. "We're still struggling to play as a team because we're real young. We haven't figured it out."
But it looked like Carson was beginning to figure it out in the third game when the Senators came back to tie the game seven times down the stretch, but could never take the lead. The Senators fought back to tie the score 17-17 before Colleen Carlson's block gave Damonte a 19-17 lead.
Lindsay Ford's ace tied it 19-19 and Breanna Anderson's kill tied it 20-20 for Carson. Carlson's kill gave Damonte a 21-20 lead, then Sandie Howard's kill tied it at 21-21 for Carson.
Scharae Steel's kill gave Damonte a 23-22 lead, then Kailey Taylor's kill tied it at 23-23 for the Senators. The two teams exchanged service errors to tie the score at 24-24 before Damonte scored the last two points of the game.
In the end, Carson couldn't overcome two of Northern Nevada's top players in Carlson and Steel. "They've got two great players," Wilkins said.
Anderson and Danae Eckart each had five kills, Mavil Diaz had five digs and Ford had 24 assists for Carson.
CHS JVS 2, DAMONTE 0
Carson won the junior varsity match 25-7, 25-15. Sarah Kerkla had five kills, Kristina Diamond had three kills and five aces, Hannah Dudley had three kills, four digs and three aces, Brittany Wyatt had five digs and Meagan Nuckolls had four aces and 14 assists.
CHS FROSH 2, DAMONTE 0
Carson (11-2) won the freshmen match 25-7, 21-25, 15-10. Skylar Petersen had two aces and nine kills, Andrea Clutska had one block, three aces and 13 kills, Sara Anderson had five kills, three aces, 23 assists, two digs and two blocks, Bree Young had one dig, four aces and nine kills, Kaitlin Berkich had one block and two aces, Alexis Church and Amanda Rupert each had one ace, Katie Carlevato had two aces, Kendra Krupp had eight kills, Kelly Kerkla had two aces and Jamie Showalter added a kill.