Carson volleyball wins thriller vs. Douglas

It wasn’t a volleyball match for the faint of heart, but then again Douglas-Carson battles rarely are.

Jaycie Roberts had five of her 13 kills in the fifth set, as the Senators scored a 25-17, 24-26, 25-23, 19-25 and 16-14 win over the Tigers Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gym in a Sierra League contest.

Carson improved to 8-3 and Douglas dropped to 6-5.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “It’s tough to play Douglas no matter what the records are. It was a good league win.

“In that fourth game, Jaycie started to step up and assume a leadership role. I was happy to see her step up. Abby Pradere did a great job. She kept us in the game (at the end).”

And, she did that at an opportune time. The teams were tied at two games apiece when Roberts got hot.

After Aubrey Caires spiked one off Maddie Jergesen to give the Tigers an 11-10 lead, Roberts had two kills and a dink to give CHS a 13-11 lead. A hitting eror by Taryn Allmet made it 14-11, and Carson had a chance to close it out, but Makenzie Tucker committed a service error to make it 14-12.

Kills by Johnnie Saletti and Isabelle Peterson tied the game at 14. Jergesen scored on a quick set in the middle, and then the Tigers were called for a double hit, ending the game and match.

“I started to connect with Natalie a lot more (in that fifth set),” Roberts said. “We played with some heart that last game, and I think that helped get everybody up.”

It was a tough one for the Tigers, who could have moved into a third-place tie with a win.

“It wasn’t bad,” DHS coach Suzy Townsell said. “We never feel we should go five games. I think the girls are getting better (each game). We’re still making some little mistakes.”

In the opening set, Carson nearly blew a 17-8 lead. Douglas, on the strength of three aces by Isabelle Peterson, and three Carson errors, closed to 18-15.

The Senators regained the momentum by scoring four straight points on three kills by Jergesen and a nicely placed dink by Natalie Anderson.

Douglas closed to 23-17, but Carson scored two straight to close it out, the final point on a kill by Kylie Riske, who was moved to the right side by Maw.

“We moved Dajarah (Navarro) to the middle,” Maw said. “We’d been having trouble on the right side. Dajarrah played a good first set, but she needs to get more consistent.

“When we played Bishop Manogue, they camped out against our middles and left-side hitters.”

In the second set, a 7-0 Carson run which featured two kills by Riske and one by Navarro, helped the Senators to a 21-18 lead.

Three straight kills by Taryn Allmet keyed a 6-0 run by Douglas and put the Tigers seemingly in control at 24-21. Two Douglas errors and a kill by Juliana Anderson tied the set at 24 before an Allmet kill and an ace by Alex Demaranville ended the set.

In the third set, the game was tied six times, the last deadlock at 23. Riske hammered a kill and Abby Pradere served up an ace to give the Senators a 2-1 lead after three sets.

In the fourth set, a 7-1 surge by Carson helped the Senators pull to within 15-13. Roberts had two kills and Tucker had two aces in that strtech.

Douglas, led by two aces from Sophie Byrne, built a 23-16 advantage. After a dink by Juliana Anderson and a Douglas error, CHS closed to 23-18. Ashley Campagna closed it out for the Tigers with a kill.

“We weren’t playing as a team, and everybody was getting down,” Roberts said.

The fifth set was tied five times before Roberts got hot at the net and put the Senators ahead to stay.

Carson visits Damonte Ranch Thursday at 7 p.m. A win could put Carson in a tie for second place.