Jim Grant / jgrant@nevadaappeal.com
MINDEN — Some heads-up play at crunch time Tuesday night helped the Douglas High volleyball team pull out a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Yerington.
Kristina Barnum delivered three of her team-high 19 kills during a pivotal stretch in the fifth set when Douglas (7-2) came from behind to win 15-12 and secure the victory in its home opener.
The Tigers won by scores of 25-15, 20-25, 25-16, 21-25 and 15-12. Similar to their performance in winning six of eight matches last weekend at the Las Vegas Invitational, the Tigers overcame momentum swings to win.
“They can’t seem to get their rhythm down,” Douglas coach Suzi Townsell said. “But the thing I’ve liked, they’re fighting to finish. They’re aggressive when the game’s on the line.”
In the decisive fifth set, Ariah Barth had kills to tie the score at 7 and 10. Yerington still led 11-10, however, when Barnum delivered three successive kills to give the Tigers a lead they never relinquished.
“She started taking shots,” Townsell said of Barnum. “They were expecting her to hit it hard, but she changed up on them and started hitting the open spaces.”
Katie McCullough had 16 kills, two blocks and three digs for Douglas. Shelby Van Winkle turned in a solid all-around performance with 45 assists, 18 digs, five aces and four kills. Barth finished with nine kills, 14 digs and eight aces.
Yerington (0-4), the runner-up at last year’s Division III state tournament, was led by sophomore Kassidy Lommori with 15 kills and freshman Ashley Rife had 34 assists.
