For the first time in nearly two weeks, the Douglas volleyball team was at full strength for a match.
The Tigers took full advantage of that fact, flexing some muscle in a 14-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 win over Carson High School at Douglas Tuesday night.
"I had to keep switching a lot of the girls around in position for whatever reason," Douglas coach Velvet Steel said. "Some of them just weren't clicking, but they were able to step up elsewhere on the court and that is fine with me. The more places they can play, the better."
Carson was unable to find an answer for Monica Knight, who came up with 15 kills on the night to lead the Tigers in her return from a two-week suspension.
Katy Marsh, also back from suspension, dished out 12 assists and had two blocks and two aces for the Tigers.
Sophomore Alex Risko had a team-high 14 assists, Whitney Estes had eight kills and Kayla Dunn had 10 blocks for Douglas.
Carson countered with strong matches from Nicole Scott (nine kills, eight blocks), Catherine Brekken (six kills), Emily Johnson (six digs), Sandra McAlman (five blocks) and Lindsay Ford (27 assists).
"This is the best we have played all year," Carson coach Shana Wilkins said. "We are a young team and we usually put the brakes on a lot earlier. But the girls putting it together for that long was phenomenal.
"They were playing with a lot of energy and both sides played great. It was just a great match."
Carson jumped out to a 13-7 lead and cruised to the victory in the first set.
Both teams battled back and forth in the second set and were tied at 17 before a series that included four Senator errors put Douglas on an 8-2 run to close out the set.
Douglas built an 18-7 lead in the third set, but the Senators clawed their way back in, scoring six unanswered points and, after an error, scored six more to tie the set up at 19.
The Tigers went on a 6-2 run to close out the set, highlighted by Katy Marsh setting up three impressive kills, one from Estes and two from Knight.
It was Carson who built a big lead in the fourth set, running the score to 9-3 before a kill and an ace from Jennifer Fitzgerald helped key a Tiger comeback that brought the score to 11-7 Carson. Knight and Dunn combined to come up with a big block that swung the momentum to Douglas' favor as the Tigers went on a 9-4 run to take a 16-15 lead.
The Tigers scored nine of the next 13 points to close out the match.
Douglas improved to 11-5 overall on the year and 5-1 in league play while Carson fell to 4-2 in league.
