Senators don't back down against Reno

OK Carson High, it was a nice run, but it's time for the first place Reno High volleyball team to take care of business now. It was fun while it lasted.

That's the way it seemed after Carson had played on even terms with the Huskies for two-and-a-half games. The Senators came out and dominated in game one before Reno won game two.

Carson had jumped out to a 9-1 lead in game three before Reno came back to tie the score 14-14. But somebody forgot to tell the Senators that's when they were supposed to break for good.

Instead, Carson regrouped and when Danae Eckart came through with a block on match point, the Senators had a 25-13, 20-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-13 win on Thursday at Morse Burley Gym.

Reno, previously unbeaten in the Sierra League, fell to 7-1, while Carson, which came into the match in fourth, improved to 5-3.

Carson coach Shana Wilkins sent her team a message before the match when she decided not to keep any individual stats for obvious reasons.

"It was all about team," Wilkins said. "Everybody contributed. I wanted the bench to be a part of the game. This was an amazing pullout for us."

One would think that Wilkins will stay with the formula of not keeping stats when her team travels to play Douglas on Tuesday. But Wilkins said if she decides not to keep stats again, it won't be for superstitious reasons.

"We'll see," said Wilkins, commenting she's undecided if she'll keep stats against Douglas. "I made the point. The kids worked together as a team.

"I'm not about any superstitions whatsover. I'm into we train hard every day. We work hard every day and we deserved it."

After Reno came back to tie the score 14-14 in game three, Kailey Taylor's quick hit off of Shannon Earwood's set gave Carson a 15-14 lead and then Breanna Anderson had a kill to give the Senators a 17-15 lead. That was during a 6-1 run that gave Carson a 20-15 lead.

Reno closed to within 21-19, but the Senators received a break when Taylor just hit a free ball over the net that Reno thought was going out. The ball landed in to give Carson a 23-19 lead and the Senators went on to close out the match.

Mavil Diaz had a kill to temporarily stop Reno's run in game four, cutting the Huskies lead to 3-1. Reno, though, went on to take command, building a 19-8 lead. But Carson built momentum for game five as Blaike King and Nicole Carlevato had kills to help bring Carson within 23-17 before Reno closed out the game.

Eckart's kill gave Carson a 1-0 lead in game five, but Reno went on to take a 5-2 lead. Taylor stopped the run with a block and Anderson's ace tied the score 5-5. Taylor's kill tied the score 6-6 and Nikki Keller's dink tied the score 7-7.

Carson went up for good 11-10 on Eckart's dink. The last turning point came when Carson was leading 12-11 on one of the longest points of the match. Eckart finally gave the Senators a 13-11 lead and Taylor followed with a quick hit set up by Earwood to make it 14-11 before Eckart's block sealed the deal.

Wilkins said the key to the wins in games three and five was that Carson kept its composure.

"Take a deep breath, relax so we don't make simple errors," said Wilkins about what the philosophy was. "From game one, point one we came out saying we were going to play tough and you're going to have to beat us.

"They came out with a lot of heart. That's all we needed. We have the skill. We just needed the heart."

"It means a lot. It means a lot," said Taylor about the win. "I'm so excited. I think it will motivate us more. We all stepped up our game and worked together."

So Carson may have the breakthrough win the program has been seeking for a long time.

"I really do," said Wilkins when asked if she believes it was a breakthrough win. "I feel like right now the talent we have should be something more than fourth (place)."

DOUGLAS 3, WOOSTER 0

The Tigers (25-4, 7-1) beat Wooster 25-17, 25-23, 25-10

Jourdan Burke had 14 kills, one assist, nine digs, five points and five blocks, Bridget Maestretti had five kills, two aces, 11 points, three digs and eight blocks, Taryn Williams had five kills, two digs, one ace and an assist, Melissa Brown had five kills, two digs, seven points and six blocks, Christine DuPuis had three kills and three points, Jessica Waggoner had three kills and three blocks, Allie Hughes had two kills, one dig, one ace, four points and seven blocks, Megan Mitchell had one kill, four digs, one ace, eight points, six blocks and 32 assists, Alyssa Todd had one block, Jordan Marsh had one assist and two digs, Mary Lombino had five digs and Mysta Townsell added one assist, one point and eight digs.

Douglas won the junior varsity match 2-0 and the freshmen match 2-0.

CHS FROSH 2, RENO 0

Carson (10-1) won the freshmen match 25-15, 25-17. Jazmine Stokes had three aces and two kills, Elizabeth Bennett-Doran had one ace, two assists and three kills, Breann Perry had one ace and four assists, Makayla Drahos had two aces and two kills, Bailey Young had 10 aces and two kills, Kleine Hernandez served for six points, Ashley Elliott and Jeanette VanSickle each had two kills, Kristi Shaffer had two aces and seven points and Elysse Virden addedd three kills.