The night started with Kenzie Price being asked and accepting a prom invitation over the public address system, and ended with Carson High's volleyball team jumping for joy.
Certainly a win-win in anybody's book.
The Senators lost a 26-24 thriller in the opening set, but bounced back to win the next three games and the match against Galena, 25-14, 25-23 and 25-17 Tuesday night at Morse Burley Gym.
Carson won't have much time to savor its win. The Senators travel to Bishop Manogue tonight at 6.
"We played tough as a team and played with a lot of heart," Carson coach Robert Maw said. "The girls responded well (from the loss) last week.
"One of the frustrations from last week was the way we served. I thought the girls did a good job serving tonight. They were aggressive, yet consistently getting the serves in play."
The first set saw two big runs, one by each team, early on.
Thanks to a kill and block by Savannah Smith (seven kills, two digs), Carson scored six straight points for an early 7-4 lead.
Galena roared back with 12 straight for a 16-7 lead. The Senators kept chipping away, finally tying the game at 24 thanks to a four-point run led by Danielle Good (14 kills) and Price (five kills), who had a kill each in the surge. A service error and a block by Kourtney Sidener snapped the tie and gave the Grizzlies the opening game.
"Sometimes it takes a while to get going as a team," Good said. "Once we get going, we play tough; play up a level."
In game 2, Carson got two kills from Good and Smith to grab an 11-6 lead. Galena fought back to 11-9, but the Senators surged ahead 18-9 thanks to seven straight points. Good, Smith and Kammy Forrest all had kills in that surge.
"I thought Kammy played real well in the middle," coach Maw said. "She does a good job at mixing up her hits at the net. She doesn't just blast the ball all the time."
Good had success throughout the match attacking from the back row.
"That's something we've worked a lot on," Good said.
The third game went down to the wire. The game was tied nine different times, the last time at 19-all, before Galena went ahead 22-19 on kills by Casey Kline and Sidener. Kills by Brooklyn Maw and Good, plus two Galena errors, enabled Carson to grab a 23-22 lead.
Kline's kill tied the game at 23, but a bad bump and an ace by Good gave Carson the victory.
Carson enjoyed a 17-10 lead in the fourth game, but Galena scored four straight points thanks to kills by Riley Clafton and Kline plus an ace by Rachael Seabert to make it 17-14.
Carson reeled off five straight points, two on aces by Brooklyn Maw, to take a 22-14 lead. Galena had two errant hits and a net violation in that span. Galena closed to six points, but Smith's kill finally closed out the match.
"We look for an opening and we look to pick on the weak service return person," Brooklyn Maw said. "You can change speed by lowering your arm. On that last one (ace) I stayed down on the ground and we got the ace. One of our goals was to beat Galena."
