Shea DeJoseph celebrates in a match against Galena on Tuesday.
Led by Jaycie Roberts and Keelin Pilgrim, Carson High tuned up for its big match with an easy 25-13, 25-14 and 25-12 win over Galena Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gym.
Roberts had 15 kills, seven digs and three aces, and Pilgrim added seven kills, three aces a dig and block. Setter Natalie Anderson kept both hitters busy with 29 assists.
“We got off to a strong start and got things rolling right away,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “We got rid of that negative mojo from last week.
“We had more hitters involved tonight, and that’s what we need Thursday when we play Manogue so they can’t focus on Jaycie. Keelin had a good match, and we got our middles more involved than we did last week. We need them involved even more against Manogue.”
In all three victories, Carson used big runs to pull away from the Grizzlies.
In the opening game, Carson used a dink by Anderson, two kills by Roberts and a stuff block by Ku’ulei Haupu to grab an early 9-2 lead.
A kill by Kaitlin O’Connor, a stuff block by Ali French and an ace by Rilee Negron enabled the Grizzlies to climb back into the set at 9-6.
That’s when the game went south on the Grizzlies. With Abby Pradere on the service line, Carson ran off eight straight points to take a 17-6 lead.
Pradere served up two of her three aces in that span, Roberts had two kills as did Maya Vasquez. After Galena cut the lead to 17-8, the Senators were able to maintain a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
In the second set, Carson was clinging to a 12-11 lead, but closed out the game with a 13-3 run, keyed by a 7-0 run with Roberts at the service line. Roberts also contributed four kills in the surge while Shea DeJoseph had a stuff block and a kill, and Pilgrim and Dajarrah Navarro added a kill apiece.
The third game followed the same pattern as the second game.
Carson had a threadbare 8-6 lead before running off 12 straight points to take a 20-6 lead.
Pilgrim had two kills while Vasquez and Roberts had one each.
Roberts also served up an ace. Galena didn’t help itself with six hitting/ballhandling errors.
Galena closed to 21-9, but a Galena error, a dink by Anderson and kills by Roberts and Stefanie Schmidt finished the match.
Maw was asked if he was worried about a letdown against Galena given with the showdown against Manougue looming.
“They are 17-year-old girls,” Maw said. “You always worry about letdowns. I expect a tough match on Thursday.”
Since 2011, Carson and Manogue have met 10 times with the Miners winning eight of those match-ups. Carson grabbed a tough 3-2 win in 2014 and a 3-1 victory last season.
The Miners have been the one team Carson has had the most problems with.
“We focused on the game at hand,” Roberts said. “We will deal with Manogue on Thursday. We’re going to work hard in practice for Manogue.
“Two years ago we beat them (in five sets) and we beat them last year. I believe we can beat them both times this year.”
Roberts said when Carson has come out on the short end of the score against the Miners there has been one constant.
“We’ve played as individuals and not as a team,” she said. “We’ve been working hard and playing together.”