The Carson volleyball team hasn't always been at its best. But most of the time, the Senators have been at their best when they've needed to be at the most.
Carson had to survive another five-game thriller, this time against South Tahoe Thursday at home, pulling out a 13-15, 15-9, 7-15, 15-4, 15-12 win. The Senators stayed in first place in the Sierra League at 12-2 with the victory.
But Carson Coach Daryl James wants his team to be playing better heading into the end of the regular season and the Northern Nevada 4A playoffs.
"I don't think we played very well," James said. "But we won, so that's a plus.
"We didn't do anything really well. We need to step it up and be more intense if we're going to do anything in zone and state."
Carson was once again led by Kaitlin Leck, who had 24 kills, four aces and three blocks and took over the match late in game five to help the Senators survive.
"Kaitlin Leck right now is carrying this club," James said. "She did some things I don't know how she did them."
Carson also received a solid effort from Ryanne Amodei, who had 37 assists and served for six aces. Amodei's most important ace came on match point when she placed a serve just in front of the back line.
Amodei said she hopes the close matches Carson has been playing will help the team.
"I think that the more we play, the better we can get," she said. "It can't hurt."
With the score tied 10-10 in the fifth game, Leck had two kills and a block to give the Senators a 13-10 lead. After South Tahoe closed to within 13-12, Carson pulled the match out, with Amodei coming through with the winning ace.
Carson built a 7-2 lead in the fifth game and the Senators still led 8-4 on Colleen Doyle's kill before South Tahoe came back to force the 10-10 tie.
After South Tahoe dominated game three, Carson came back to dominate game four, with Doyle's block and three straight aces by Heidi Alexander helping to put the game away.
Carson led 13-11 in game one on the strength of Rachael DeRiemer's kill and ace and Leck's dink, but couldn't hold on.
With the score tied 9-9 in game two, Leck served for six straight points to even the match. Katie Dill had a block, Megan Anderson had a kill, Leck had an ace and DeRiemer had a kill on game point during the run.
Jennifer Saunders also made a sprawling dig that went over the other side of the net during the run to give Carson a 12-9 lead.
DeRiemer had 11 kills, Saunders had five kills and seven blocks, Anderson had six kills, Doyle had three kills and three blocks, Alexander had four digs and Chrissy Joseph added three digs.
