Prep Roundup: Carson High volleyball bests Douglas in five sets

MINDEN — Going five sets seems to be a good omen for the Carson High volleyball team.

The Senators made it a perfect 3-for-3 in five-set matches after knocking off Douglas, 21-25, 25-17, 25-15, 14-25 and 15-6, Thursday on Randy Green Court.

Carson improved to 4-1 in Sierra League matches and 7-4 overall. Douglas dropped to 1-4 in Sierra League play.

“I’ll take that as a good thing,” said Carson coach Robert Maw when told of the mark. “It was an emotional night, playing the rival school. You have to ride out the storm. We got off to a slow start, and we had problems with our serve receive again. I’m just glad we fought back.

“We passed well (after the first game). We had some big plays from our middles, and that was a big difference in the match. We got a nice rhythm.”

As well as Maw thought his team passed, Douglas coach Suzi Townsell was disappointed with her team’s passing.

“If you don’t start with a good pass, it’s hard to get your offense going,” she said. “We have been working on that in practice, but we’re not bringing it to the court.”

That was the same song that Maw has been singing most of the season, win or lose.

After losing the opening set, Carson won the next two sets in convincing fashion, 25-17 and 25-15. The common thread in both wins was that Carson controlled the sets from the beginning and never trailed.

In the second set, two aces by Natalie Anderson and a kill by Ku’ulei Haupu carried CHS to a 5-0 lead. The Tigers, led by Hailey Hughes, stayed within one or two points of the Senators until late in the set.

After Hannah Kyle scored on a quick hit in the middle to make it 17-15, Carson went on a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 24-15. Stefanie Schmidt, Dajarrah Navarro and Carissa Willey each had a kill in the surge, but the Tigers contributed to their own demise with four errors. The Tigers made it 24-17 on a ballhandling error and a net violation, but Carson closed it out when Isabella Tomassi’s hit went out.

The Senators cruised to a 10-2 lead to open the third set, as Navarro had two stuff blocks, Abby Pradere served up two aces and the Tigers made a plethora of ballhandling errors. Even in rally scoring, an eight-point deficit is tough to make up. Douglas closed to six a few times — 14-8, 15-9, 20-14 and 21-15 — but when you can’t go on a long scoring run the chance for a comeback is practically nil.

The Senators closed it out with four straight on a kill by Anderson, two Douglas errors and an ace by Cheyanne Prado-Holland.

The Tigers turned the tables on Carson in the fourth set, building a 10-5 lead. Hughes and Lindsey Marangi had kills, and Caitlyn Costa had an ace to lead a 6-0 surge by Douglas.

After Carson closed to 11-9 on kills by Navarro and Shea DeJoseph, the Tigers roared back to score five of the next seven points to take an 18-12 lead. Hughes had two kills, Marangi had one and Jackson had one. Douglas closed the set with a 7-1 run.

The deciding set went back and forth until Carson extended a 5-4 advantage to 13-4.

Schmidt started the surge with a well-placed tip, and after a Douglas error, Abbey Paulson served up two straight aces to make it 9-4. The Tigers made three straight errors enabling CHS to extend its lead to 12-4. Anderson completed the surge with a well-placed dink. The Tigers closed to 13-6, but Carson ended it with a kill by Willey and then Prado-Holland served up an ace.

Townsell said sub-par passing again played a big role in the fifth-set loss.

“It was passing again,” she said. “You ask people to do something differently; to change (things). You need to want to change.”

Maw was happy with the play in the middle. Haupu had five kills and Navarro nine.

“Our middles got into a good rhythm,” Maw said.

The Carson coach was pleased with his team’s defense, but he also said there is still work to be done in that area.

Carson hosts Galena on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

GIRLS GOLF

Falcons headed to state

Sierra Lutheran’s golf team is headed to the 2A state tournament next week in West Wendover.

The Falcons, led by Kami Niles and Adyson Casteel, won all three events they played in. Niles is seeded No. 1 in the 2A. The Falcons took second place in state last year. The team is coached by Juls Clausen, Gary Casteel and Dave Gebhardt.