In Shana Wilkins' opinion, the match went two games longer than it should have gone.
But then again, she is used to seeing her young Carson
High volleyball team go through peaks and valleys during a match, and Thursday night was no exception.
The Senators blew a 2-0 lead, but righted themselves in the fifth set en route to a 25-13, 25-22, 21-25, 15-25 and 15-9 win over Reno in a Sierra League match-up.
Carson improved to 4-1, its only loss coming to South Tahoe. Next up is arch-rival Douglas. Reno dropped to 2-3 in league play.
"For some reason, this is how this team plays," Wilkins said. "They get it together for two games, lose it for a couple of games and when it matters they pull it out. I'm getting used to it. I don't stress about it anymore.
"We're still learning and getting better everyday. We still don't know what to do in crisis situations. We're going to the soft stuff when we should be killing the ball."
After two sub-par sets (third and fourth), the fifth set was never in doubt.
Leading 3-2, Carson ran off the next six points to take a 9-2 lead. A service error by Reno's Lauren Dwyer, a bad set and a tip into the net by Andrea Stoddard gave the Senators three points. Two aces by Lindsay Ford and a cross court kill by Lindsey Kern accounted for the rest of the points.
Reno did close to 11-8 thanks to two kills by Hailey Corthell and a kill by Dwyer. A service error by Reno, a kill by Ford off a block attempt by Leala Lierman and a bad set by Reno made it 14-8. After a net violation by Carson, Sandra McAlman's hit was unreturned putting an end to the two-hour match.
"In my opinion they're still learning," Reno coach Frederico Santos said. "They don't have the experience to control their emotions. It's natural at their age.
"We're playing four sophomores right now. They have to understand that mistakes are going to happen."
In the first set, Carson rolled to an early 8-2 lead thanks to a few Reno mistakes, an ace by Ford, a kill by Melanie Norvell and a block by Catherine Brekken, who finished with 10 blocks to lead the Senators. With a 16-8 lead, Carson ripped off six of the next nine points thanks to a tip by Ford, two kills by Kern and a block by Brekken sandwiched around three Reno points. A tip by Brekken and two Reno errors closed out the game.
Carson came out overconfident in the second set, and Reno built a 21-15 lead. The Senators weren't handling serves well, had several bouts of miscommunication in the back row and generally looked asleep at the wheel.
Carson came back with a vengeance, scoring the next four points on a kill by Allison Foltz, a cross court kill by Kern, a kill by Sydney Parker and a service receive mistake. Reno made it 22-19 when Emilee Johnson mishandled a serve, but the Senators ran off the next six points to end the set. Parker had a tip and kill to spark the outburst.
Carson, thanks to two kills by Nicole Scott, a kill by Johnson and one by Parker, built an 18-9 lead in the third set. Reno, taking a page from Carson's book, stormed back with 11 of the next 12 points for a 20-19 lead. Corthell had two kills in that stretch. With the score tied at 20, Parker hit one wide, Brekken was long with a spike, Drew Bradley served up an ace and Carson was called for a bad set to make it 24-20.
After Corthell was long on a spike attempt, Parker mishit a ball into the net to end the set.
Reno controlled the fourth set, scoring nine straight points to take a 22-9 lead over the stunned Senators.
Two kills by Paulina Pulleyn and two aces by Stoddard plus a block and kill by Dwyer sparked the Huskies.
Carson put on a brief rally to close to 22-14, but three Carson mistakes enabled Reno to close out the game and even the match.
Kern led the hitters with nine kills, followed by Parker and McAlman with six apiece. Norvell play a solid floor game with nine digs, followed by Ford with seven and Foltz with six.
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.
