Douglas High's volleyball team showed why it's the class of the Sierra League Tuesday night.
Led by Jessica Waggoner, Taryn Williams and Jordan Burke, the Tigers knocked off Carson 25-17, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-23 at Morse Burley Gym to improve to 7-0 in league play.
Unofficially, Waggoner had 11 kills, two stuff blocks and an ace. Williams had seven kills and an ace while Burke finished with 10 kills and a stuff block.
It's the second straight year that Douglas has come into Carson and got the better of the host Senators.
"It's always nice (to win here)," Douglas coach Suzy Townsell said. "We didn't play Douglas volleyball tonight. We want to attack, attack, attack. Mistakes that were made on the other side (of the net) and we played down to that level. We need to stay at a certain level."
Townsell knows she has a weapon in Waggoner, and she'd like to see her setter Megan Mitchell get the ball to her more often.
"When Jessica is hitting well, there is not anybody in the area that can stop her," Carson coach Justin Malley said. "I didn't think she had a great night. She tipped on us, and we didn't cover it.
"We had way too many service errors (15). Douglas played well and took advantage of them."
The opening set featured seven ties before the Tigers gained control of the match.
A net serve by Mitchell enabled Carson to take a 13-12 lead, and a tip by Waggoner tied the game at 13.
The Tigers scored seven of the next eight points to grab a 20-14 lead. Blaike King hit wide to give the Tigers a 14-13 lead and then Waggoner blocked Nikki Keller and the Senators were called for a lift to make it 15-13. Shannon Dugan blocked King for a 16-13 lead and then Keller hit a spike into the net to make it 17-13.
King put down one of her 11 kills to slice the Senators' deficit to 17-14, but a kill by Williams, a miscommunication and King's spike which sailed long made it 20-14. Carson trimmed the lead to 23-17, but back-to-back blocks by Jamie Lorntzen and Waggoner finished off the plucky Senators.
The second set featured eight ties. Carson led by two points (2-0, 9-7), but that was the Senators' biggest lead. Douglas' biggest lead was four points, 17-13.
Carson battled back to tie the game at 17 and 19, respectively. The Tigers missed on several spoke attempts and on one serve. The Senators got a stuff block from Kailey Taylor which tied the set at 19.
King served long and Cameo Lomorri had a mishit which gave Douglas a 21-19 lead. Carson, as it did all night, battled back to take a 22-21 lead on an ace by Lomorri and a tip by Keller.
Douglas stormed back to take a 24-22 lead on a net violation and two missed spikes. Danae Eckert trimmed the lead to 24-23 when she pounded a spike to the floor despite a strong Douglas block. Burke pounded a spike off Elysse Virden to end the set and give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
"Games like that teams go on runs," Malley said. "They went on their run at a bad time for us."
In the third set, Douglas built a 16-9 lead, as Waggoner had two kills, Mitchell an ace
and Williams a kill. Carson stormed back to 19-17 as Virden had a block and a kill, King had a nice cross-court kill and Keller registered a nice kill off Burke's hands.
Mitchell and Burke scored for a 21-17 lead, and Carson came back, yet again.
Lomorri slammed down a spike, Eckert served up three aces as Douglas had trouble handling the ball, The last ace gave the Senators a 22-21 lead. The match was tied at 22 and 23-all before Carson scored the next two points to win the set. King finished it off when she blocked Williams at the net.
Carson found itself in a 7-0 hole to start the fourth set, as Waggoner, Dugan and Burke had kills while Mitchell served up one of her five aces.
The Tigers remained in control, building up leads of 13-3, 19-11 and 23-14. It seemed victory was only moments away.
Enter the plucky Senators - again.
Keller ended a lengthy rally with a tip which started the Senators on a 5-0 run, cutting the lead to 23-19. Lomorri had an ace serve during the run nd the Tigers were hit with two net violations.
Consecutive kills by King and two mishits by Douglas enabled the Senators to cut the deficit to 24-23 before Waggoner tipped one into the wide-open middle.
Douglas lost to Carson 25-23, 25-16 in Carson Tuesday night.
Brenna White had three kills, three aces and two blocks, and Carly McCullough had three kills to lead the Tigers.
Carson McFadden, Heidi Schefcik and Nikki Chavez each had an ace, Bri Burnside had a block, Keely Latham had a dig, Dani Trujillo had an assist, Erin Allison had a service point and Shawna Gervais had 10 digs.
Douglas is now 9-2 on the year.
