There's always a risk on senior night that the emotion of playing the last home game will overcome the task at hand.
The Douglas High volleyball team was able to channel that emotion into an impressive 25-13, 25-14, 18-25, 25-17 win over Manogue in Minden Tuesday night.
Douglas starting lineup, made up entirely of seniors, set the tone by easily taking the first two games after a short ceremony before the match.
"It was great because I felt they were focused on the game and not senior night," Douglas coach Suzi Townsell said. "It was fun to see that fruition of building on how we were playing at the Carmichael Tournament.
"We were being aggressive and playing as a team. They were playing with confidence and had a lot of energy, even before we took the floor tonight."
With the win, Douglas clinched its third Sierra League title in four years, improving to 29-2 overall and 14-0 in Sierra League play.
"We wanted to be No. 1 going into regionals, that was our first goal heading into this season," Townsell said. "Now we start focusing on regionals."
Manogue rebounded to take the third game, but Douglas closed things out with a 7-2 run in the fourth.
We got kind of individualistic in that third game and volleyball just doesn't work that way," Townsell said. "We got it together in the fourth and worked as a team."
Seniors dominated the attack for Douglas as Emily Garcia and Brenna White each had 14 kills while Shannon Dugan had 13 and Keely Latham had eight. Senior Erin Allison had five kills, Jackie Harper had two and Mia Townsell had one.
Garcia put up five blocks and three digs and Harper had four blocks, six digs, 48 assists and 14 service points.
Dugan came up with three aces and Townsell led the team with 19 digs.
