Tigers roar past Carson in 4

Barth helps lead Tigers to win over Carson

Douglas shook off serve-receive issues in the first game, and roared back to beat Carson in four games, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-18 Thursday night in the regular-season finale at Morse Burley Gym.

Carson will enter the playoffs on a two-match losing streak at 13-3. The Senators host Reno Tuesday at 6 p.m. Douglas finished 11-5 and will be on the road for its playoff opener on Tuesday.

Douglas’ win avenged an earlier loss at the hands of Carson.

“We made some changes (since the last time),” Douglas coach Suzy Townsell said. “We were 15 playing as one tonight. We wanted to get on some scoring runs tonight, and we accomplished that.”

After the first game that is.

Carson used two long service runs by Makenzie Tucker and Jaycie Roberts to control the first game.

Three aces by Tucker and a kill by Roberts enabled Carson to grab an early 6-1 lead. After Douglas tied the game at 7, the Senators went on a 9-0 run for a 16-7 lead. Natalie Anderson had two kills as did Kylie Riske.

“We were serving strong,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “We weren’t running the middle (blockers) the way I wanted.”

Maddie Jergesen (10 kills), playing in just her second Carson-Douglas rivalry match, had a stuff block and a kill to up the Senators’ lead to 20-10. Set over right?

Not on your life.

Douglas strung together five points on two kills by Ariah Barth (13 kills, 12 digs) to cut the lead to 22-20. A kill by Jergesen and a block by Roberts made it 24-20. After a kill by Raychel Allen (21 digs) made it 24-21, Jergesen capped a monster set with a kill.

Almost blowing that double-digit was a precursor to the second set.

A 6-0 Carson run, keyed by Juliana Anderson’s two aces and a dink by Roberts, gave the Senators a 14-7 lead.

The lead kept dwindling, as Douglas put together two three-point runs, the second closing the deficit to 19-18. Carson made it 21-18 on two straight DHS errors, but the Barth-led Tigers scored six of the next seven points to go ahead 24-22, Freshman Talyn Jackson had a couple of kills and Carson made two errors in that stretch.

A Barth error enabled Carson to make it 24-23, but Barth came right back with a kill to tie the match at 1.

“I didn’t think we were out of it,” Townsell said. “We’ve been working hard on the mental part of our game.

“Ariah played very well tonight. She played all the way around and was hitting strong.”

The third game was mostly Douglas

Isabelle Peterson had a couple of kills and Aubrey Caires had one, as the Tigers scored seven of the set’s first 11 points. Carson scored twice, but the Tigers put together a 7-4 surge to open a 14-10 lead. Carmen Shaw had a couple of kills for the Tigers, while Riske, Jergesen and Juliana Anderson had kills for Carson. Two kills by Riske and two Douglas errors enabled Carson to close to 20-18. The Tigers used three CHS mistakes and a tip by Carmen Shaw for a 22-19 edge.

Jergesen responded with a kill, but a missed serve and another Carson hitting error allowed DHS to go up 24-20. After a DHS error and Roberts kill it was 24-22. Shaw ended the set with a kill.

The final game was a back-and-forth affair with the score tied at 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11-all before two Shaw blocks, a Peterson kill and an ace by Allen made it 15-11. Carson closed to 16-14 on three Douglas errors, but a 7-2 run put the Tigers in control at 23-16.

Barth had a couple of kills and Shaw had a quick-set winner.

“We have to develop maturity; the ability to stay in control,” Maw said. “I could see it in their faces. Douglas played well tonight. I don’t want to take anything away from them. The pressure started to get to us a bit. Douglas realized it could play with us.

“It’s not the way I wanted to go into the playoffs, but I wanted to finish first or second on our side, and we accomplished that.”