Natalie Anderson (left) sets for Dajarrah Navarro during the first game with the Damonte Ranch Mustangs Thursday night at home.
Jaycie Roberts is starting to heat up, and that’s bad news for the rest of the northern Nevada 4A volleyball teams.
Roberts had 17 kills, 11 digs, four blocks and three aces to lead the Senators to a an easy 25-18, 25-18 and 25-14 win over Damonte Ranch Thursday at Carson High.
Carson improved to 10-4 with matches left against Wooster (Tuesday, home) and Douglas (3:45 p.m. next Thursday).
Roberts hit at a .366 clip with just two errors. Front row or back, she couldn’t be stopped. She’s arguably one of the best back-row attackers in northern Nevada.
“She is playing real well right now,” CHS coach Robert Maw said. “She has had back-to-back good matches. She had 24 kills against Bishop Manogue which is a good blocking team, and they couldn’t stop her. She and Natalie (Anderson) are connecting much better.
“You don’t want to tick Jaycie off. When she gets mad, she just rockets the ball.”
Maw was referring to a sequence when Damonte celebrated a little too much after scoring over Roberts at the net. The Carson standout proceeded to rocket one to the floor on the ensuing point.
“It’s all coming around,” Roberts said. “Natalie and I are finally connecting (regularly).”
Whenever Carson put together a good run, Roberts always seemed to be in the middle of it
Leading just 7-6 in the first set, Carson scored eight of the next nine points to grab as 15-7 lead. Roberts had for kills and Ku’lei Haupu had one to lead the surge. When Damonte closed to 17-12, Carson scored six of the next seven to make it 23-13. Keelin Pilgrim and Abby Pradere each had an ace, while Roberts and Shea DeJoseph contributed kills. Roberts finally put the Mustangs away with a kill, giving her six for the set.
After the initial 8-1 run, Carson seemed to let Damonte hang around a bit too much for Maw’s liking.
“I felt like that might be tough after that emotionally draining match against Manogue,” Maw said. “We gave them some goals to work on. We ran some new stuff because we didn’t want them to get too complacent.”
In the second set, the teams were tied at 5 when Carson went on an 8-2 run to take a 13-7 lead. Roberts and Maya Vasquez had two kills each in the surge while Natalie Anderson (37 assists, 5 digs, 1 block) added a dink.
Damonte fought back to 14-13 on an ace by Olivia Vigil and a kill by Casey Pickett. Carson rebounded, scoring six of the next eight for a 20-15 advantage. DeJoseph had two kills, Vasquez had one as did Anderson and Roberts.
Damonte led 5-4 in the third set only to see Carson score 10 of the next 13 points for a 14-8 lead. Pilgrim (3 kills, 3 digs, ace) had two of her kills in that surge while Makenna Couste had an ace and Haupu (3 kills, 4 blocks) had a kill. Damonte closed to 16-11, but a 6-1 surge led by two aces from Roberts, a stuff block from Dajarrah Navarro (7 blocks, 4 kills) and a kill from Stefanie Schmidt made it 22-12. After Damonte scored two straight points, Pilgrim got another kill as did Haupu before Abbey Paulson served up a set-ending ace.
“Jaycie and Abby (Pradere) played very well in the back row,” Maw said.
GIRLS SOCCER
Dayton girls tie
FERNLEY — The Dust Devils and Fernley battled to a 2-all tie Wednesday afternoon.
Fernley scored twice early in the second half, and Dayton fought back on a free kick by Alura Greenwalt in the 50th minute and Nicole Washington tied it in the 69th minute.