Natalie Anderson sets the ball in a match against Manogue on Tuesday night.
Manogue comes back to beat Carson in four
RENO — After a fast start, Carson High’s first-place showdown against Bishop Manogue got downright ugly.
The Senators used the serving of Makenzie Tucker and the hitting of Jaycie Roberts to win the opening set 25-19, but lost the next three games 18-25, 11-25 and 15-25, and it wasn’t even that close.
The loss snapped Carson’s 12-match win streak and dropped the Senators to 13-2 in Northern Division I play entering Thursday’s season finale against arch-rival Douglas at 6 p.m. The win clinched no worse than a co-championship for the Miners, who improved to 14-1.
“Well, the first game was beautiful,” Carson coach Robert Maw said, a pained look on his face. “We have to learn to control our emotions. We couldn’t run our offense because we didn’t pass well. You can’t run a quick (tempo) offense like we do unless you pass the ball.
“Bishop Manogue is a good team. I’m sure they were (looking for revenge). I would be if I were them. If we establish ball control we’re a formidable team. We didn’t do that after the first game. I expect to see them again in the playoffs.”
That was a view shared by Roberts, Carson’s sophomore hitter.
“We lost all our momentum and energy,” Roberts said. “It’s a mental thing. We let them get inside our heads. I think we gave up after giving up the first few points in the second and third games. I want to play them again. We worked our rears off, and we won’t let them get us again.”
The opening set was tied at 4, 10 and 11-all. A kill by Kelly Croasdell and a hitting error by Allison Kibbe gave the Miners a short-lived 13-11 advantage.
Tucker stepped up, and Carson ran off nine straight points for a 20-13 advantage. Tucker served up three straight aces, Roberts had back-to-back kills and Kylie Riske had a nice block on Manogue setter Mikaela DeRicco. Manogue did pull within five points three different times (21-16, 23-18 and 24-19) before Carson’s Juliana Anderson (12 kills, 5 digs) registered a set-ending kill.
The teams traded points to open the second set, but the Miners went on an 8-3 run to take a 15-10 lead. Jensen Oppio had three kills in the surge, while Julia Wenzel added one. Becca Smith and DeRicco also had stuff blocks. Carson, thanks to kills by Roberts, Natalie Anderson, Maddie Jergesen and Juliana Anderson, closed to 19-16.
The Miners scored five of the next six, two of the points coming on Carson mistakes, to build a 24-17 lead. After Hannah Kip’s serve went long, Katelyn Oppio knocked down the set-winning point.
The third set started ugly for the Senators and didn’t get better. The Miners raced to a 16-3 lead, as Carson imploded with two missed serves, a couple of miscommnication errors and three hitting errors. The Miners didn’t have to do much, because the Senators couldn’t get anything going. In fact, it took two kills by Roberts (11 kills, 20 digs) for the Senators to reach double digits.
The final set was just as bad for CHS. Wenzel slammed down four quick kills to spark a 5-0 run, extending the Miners’ lead to 11-3.
After Jergesen scored on a quick middle set, Manogue scored six of the next eight points for a 17-6 lead. Keelin Pilgrim and Natalie Anderson had kills in that stretch for the Senators.
The Miners’ lead never got below eight the rest of the way.
Yerington sweeps Silver Stage
SILVER SPRINGS — Kassidy Lommori had 24 kills and eight digs to lead Yerington to a 25-15, 25-18 and 25-23 win over Silver Stage Tuesday night.
Yerington is 12-0 in league and 31-2 overall.
Chloe Dane added eight kills and 14 digs, while Jordan Bobrick finished with two kills and 14 digs. Ashley Rife had 24 assists and seven digs and Rachel Dane had eight assists and three digs.
