Thanks to 19 kills by Shea DeJoseph and 12 by Ku’ulei Haupu, Carson knocked off Galena, 25-22, 18-25, 20-25, 25-21 and 15-12 on Thursday.
Carson improved to 2-0 in Sierra League play and 5-3 overall in Northern 4A play.
“We showed our maturity tonight,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “It was a good night for us. We played well tonight. Shea had a big night, Dajarrah (Navarro) was big and Ku’ulei had a great game.
“I like our new lineup. It works well as long as we can get the ball up.”
Serve receive was an issue in the second and third games, as Galena was targeting certain Carson back-row players, and the Grizzlies took both of those sets for a 2-1 lead in the match after Carson had opened with a hard-fought 25-22 win.
That set the stage for the fourth set which saw Carson come back from a 11-3 deficit to even the match at 2-all, and the final set that saw DeJoseph, Haupu and Stefanie Schmidt take control.
Three aces from setter Faith Bennett and three kills by Ryan Cirillo keyed Galena’s 11-3 surge to open the fourth set. Trailing 17-13, Carson went on a set-ending 12-4 run to even the match.
A stuff block by Schmidt and two aces by Abbey Paulson closed the gap to 17-16. A tip by Navarro and a kill by DeJoseph evened the set at 20. Schmidt was called for a net violation, giving Galena a 21-20 lead.
Carson ran off the next five points, as Schmidt and Haupu had kills and DeJoseph ended it with an ace, her second of the night.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Stefanie hit a big girl ball,” Maw said. “It was nice to see Stef put some pepper on the ball.”
The Senators never trailed in the fifth set, though it was close the whole way.
Galena rallied to 10-9, but setter Natalie Anderson re-directed a pass over the net to make it 11-9, and Haupu scored on a quick set in the middle for a 12-9 lead.
“The left side was behind me,” Anderson said. “I saw the middle go up and the right side was hugging the net. None of our hitters were there, and I thought I could tip it more forcefully than any of our hitters could.”
“It was pure instinct, and she knew where to put it,” Maw said. “A younger setter would have just tried to get it over the net.”
Galena closed to 13-11, but Haupu and Schmidt blocked an attack to make it 14-11. After an error by Schmidt, Haupu hammered home the game winner.
“I told Ku’ulei that they weren’t going to block her, and just to get up there and crush it,” DeJoseph said.
DeJoseph was big in the opening set, registering six kills and an ace.
After Galena closed to 15-14, DeJoseph had a kill and ace to make it 17-14. Galena closed to 17-15 on a Taylor Crofoot kill, but two Galena errors and a kill by Navarro (8 kills total) made it 20-15. An error and dink by Anderson made it 23-17, but the Grizzlies closed to 23-19 thanks to a kill and Navarro error.
After a DeJoseph kill made it 24-19, Galena scored three straight before a service error handed Carson the first set.
“I was really excited,” DeJoseph said. “I really wanted to get this win. I’ve been wanting to have a good game.”
“Shea gets up quick, and Natalie sets quick,” Maw said. “Shea doesn’t have time to think about it, she just goes up and hits it. I think she was reading the blocks well tonight.”
Galena’s Katie Schloss had three kills and three aces to lead the Grizzlies to the win in the third set. Carson closed to 22-18 on a quick middle kill by Haupu and an ace by Anderson, but a hitting error by DeJoseph and a serve-receive miscue plus an ace by Cirillo evened the match.
The third set was a dogfight, featuring seven ties.
Leading 19-18, Schloss went down the line and Bennett’s bump went over the net and wasn’t returned to make it 21-18. After an error by Schmidt, Hannah Oggerino served up two straight aces for a 24-18 lead. Carson closed to 24-20, and then Carson made a service error to end the set.
Muckers top Pyramid
VIRGINIA CITY — Emily Heinz had 10 assists, six kills and five aces to lead Virginia City to a 25-11, 25-16 and 25-14 win over Pyramid Lake in a match played Tuesday.
Chelsea Nevin contributed 12 kills, 11 assists, three digs and five aces, and Kori Johnson added seven digs and five aces, and Calli Hess had five digs and two kills.
VC is 5-1 in league and 10-3 overall.
JV FOOTBALL
North Valleys tops CHS, 20-13
Gilbert Polanco scored both of Carson’s touchdowns in the non-league loss.
Polanco opened the game with an 85-yard kick-off return and added a 10-yard scoring run later in the game.