Douglas volleyball sweeps past Reno

MINDEN -- Douglas High's volleyball team remained perfect in Sierra League play with a 25-19, 25-15 and 25-17 win over visiting Reno Tuesday night.

The Tigers are 4-0, and have yet to lose a game to a league opponent. Not bad for a team that returned just one starter and has a rookie coach.

"We're playing progressively better teams," said coach Ted Paterson, whose team is 12-2 overall. "The next two matches should be good. Wooster has a decent team, and Carson no matter what their team looks like, always picks it up for Douglas."

Save for some uninspired play in the first half of Game 1, the Tigers pretty much had their way with Reno. Unofficially, Michelle Paterson pounded home a team-high 18 kills, followed by Dawson Joyce-Mendive with eight. Jenna Baron added four kills. The Tigers also served up 11 aces, led by Cayla Knapp with six.

Reno stayed nearly even with Douglas in the opening game. With a 14-13 lead, Douglas scored nine of the next 11 points to take control. Kills by Joyce-Mendive and Paterson (two) extended the Tigers' lead to 17-13.

After a block and ace by Reno's Lyndsay Stewart made it 17-5, Douglas scored five straight for a 22-15 lead. Paterson had three more kills to lead the surge.

The second game followed the same pattern. Reno stayed close for a while, but Douglas eventually took control and won easily.

The turning point in the second game came with Douglas leading 9-7. The Tigers ran off 11 of the next 13 points for a 20-9 lead. The only points Reno scored in that run came from errant serves. Joyce-Mendive and Paterson had two kills apiece to lead the Tigers' surge.

Paterson played many of his reserves in the third game, and Reno bolted to an 11-3 lead. Paterson finally called a timeout, and DHS scored 19 of the next 22 points to grab a 22-16 lead. Paterson contributed four kills, Shanell Sandy added two kills and a block, and Baron served up four aces.