DeRiemer, Senators beat rival Grizzlies

RENO -- There certainly were no secrets when the Carson and Galena high school volleyball teams got together for their non-league match on Tuesday.

The rival schools happen to be located less than 25 miles apart, are perennial Northern 4A volleyball playoff contenders and had split two previous matches already this season. Add to that the presence of star players -- Rachael DeRiemer of Carson and Joanna Hixon of Galena -- shared an outside hitter position for the Silver State Volleyball Club's age group team that placed third at the Junior Olympic national championships this summer.

This time, the advantage went to Carson as DeRiemer put down 15 kills and the Senators swept to 3-0 victory in The Cave at Galena. The Senators won 15-10, 15-7, 15-8.

"I think the teams are comparable," Carson coach Daryl James said. "We played a little bit more inspired than they did tonight. I don't think they played to their potential, but they're a darn good team and we all know that."

This was a tie-breaker match. Carson won a tournament match 2-0 in Las Vegas two weeks ago and Galena won the rematch 2-1 this past Saturday at the High Sierra Volleyball Classic.

"We just had a bad day at Bedrock," Galena coach Teresa Burrows said. "We just weren't in sync tonight and it showed. Carson is a good team and you can't play like that against them."

DeRiemer and Hixon, both 5-foot-10 seniors, gave solid individual performances all the way around the court.

"You have Joanna and Rachael, you have Carly (Sorensen) and Tristin (Adams) out in Fallon, and you have Brittany (Addeo) and Emily (Haas) at Douglas are probably the top players in the league. You could argue for any of them being the top player and I think you saw two of them play tonight," James said.

"Rachael played well. She passed every ball for us, she put away 15, she had four digs, she even had a couple of assists. What more could you ask?"

Carson's third-year varsity veteran still felt she could have played better.

"It was iffy. I was a little off in the beginning, but then I started to pick it up. I think I can play better," she said. "I like playing against Joanna. It's always good to compete. It's like who can get the most kills, who can get the most digs and we like to beat each other. And this was a good win for our team. This helps us out a lot because we start league next week."

Hixon, who led Galena in kills with eight, echoed those feelings.

"I like playing against Rachael; she's a good player," Hixon said. "It's a rivalry, just like we have a rivalry with Fallon. This was kind of the tie-breaker game tonight. We didn't win, but we're going to come back and beat them."

The Senators showed some balance on the statistic sheet. Shannon Devereaux had eight kills and five aces, Niederer four kills, Alyssa Wilson three kills and two blocks, Colleen Doyle three kills and Kaitlin Brush one kill. Setter Tabitha Adams was credited with 31 assists.

"I liked our ball control tonight," James said. "I thought our ball control was the key. We dug balls, we passed and we got them to a place where we could run our offense."

For Galena, senior Whitney Dibble had five kills and six blocks. Junior setter Mandy Dickman handed out 12 assists.

Carson was scheduled to begin its Sierra League season Thursday, but the Senators have already been awarded a forfeit win because Hug doesn't have a varsity squad. Galena opens its High Desert League play Thursday at Fallon.

"Hopefully we got all the uglies out tonight and we'll be able to step up. We'll be challenged there," said Burrows, whose team is now 11-8 overall for the season.

Galena won the junior varsity match 15-13, 15-1 and also won the freshman match 15-10, 15-10.