Year in and year out, the McQueen Lancers have been a formidable foe for Carson High’s volleyball team, and they proved it again on Thursday night.
Since 2011, the teams have played five times and Carson has come out on the short end three times, including last night’s 21-25, 25-22, 25-15, 18-25 and 12-15 loss at Morse Burley Gymnasium.
The loss dropped Carson to 4-2 in crossover action. Carson starts Sierra League play next Tuesday at home against Galena, and follows that up with a home match on Thursday against Manogue.
“I knew McQueen would be a pretty tough match,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “I was expecting five games. The Spanish Springs loss was tougher to take because we had the lead and momentum in the fifth game against them.
“We hustled and played hard, and we stayed together as a team. The big issue is that we didn’t pass the ball well, and you can’t run a quick offense if you don’t pass the ball well. They did a good job of finding Jaycie (Roberts) and they got a lot of her hits back up.”
McQueen coach Dani Havenstrite credited libero Alyssa Zucco for leading her team’s defense.
“Our libero is our captain, and it’s hard to get a ball past her,” said the McQueen coach. “She played really well.
“The team really came together. We hung in there and fought to the end. They were taking our outsides away (in the second and third games), and we used our middles more in the fourth and fifth games.”
Trailing 14-13 in the opening set, Carson scored six of the next eight points to take a 17-16 lead. Jaycie Roberts (13 kills, 10 blocks) had a kill and stuff block in the surge and Abby Pradere served up one of her seven aces. The rest of the points came on McQueen errors.
McQueen tied it at 17, but the Lancers made three straight errors, and Carson surged ahead 20-17. Three kills by Holly Bland keyed a 7-0 run and made it 24-20. Roberts made it 24-21 with a kill, but Annika Kerns stuffed a spike attempt on game point.
In the second set, Carson looked like it was going to run away with an easy win. The Senators, behind three straight aces by Pradere gained a 12-6 lead, built it to 19-11 on a couple of kills by Roberts and then 23-18 on kills by Ari (7 kills) and Stefanie Schmidt.
It almost wasn’t enough.
McQueen closed to 23-22 thanks to kills by Kerns and Bland, and an ace by Kaila Spevak. Carson scored the next two to win it, evening the match.
The Senators used a 9-2 run to take a 14-5 lead in the third set. Dejarrah Navarro had a stuff block and kill, Ari Schmidt had two kills, Roberts had a kill and Pradere capped it with another ace.
“Abby has a pretty good little serve,” Maw said.
“She has the ability to put it where she needs it.”
The Lancers never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The fourth set was tied four times — 6, 7, 8 and 15 — before a 6-1 surge gave the Lancers a 21-15 lead. Kerns served up three aces in that span, and Carson made a couple of errors. Carson closed to 21-18 on a McQueen error and a Roberts kill, but the Lancers closed it out with four straight points.
The fifth game was tight, as the teams were tied five times (the last was 8-8). The Lancers scored six of the next eight, as Kerns had two kills and Bland one, to take a 14-10 lead. A service error and a kill by Maya Vasquez closed it to 14-12 before Spevak’s down ball fell in to win the match.
Pradere had seven aces, 10 assists and five digs, while Natalie Anderson added 21 assists and four digs.
Abbey Paulson contributed 10 digs with Keelin Pilgrim adding seven digs and seven kills.
TENNIS
Carson girls triumph
RENO — The Senators got three wins from the doubles tandem of Mikaela Asby and Henley Ball-McKenzie, and two wins from Shaylin Segura and two from the doubles’ tandems of Anya Woodbury and Emma Breeding, Emily McCaskill and Amanda Schulz en route to a 12-6 win over Damonte Ranch Thursday afternoon.
Heather Lamotte, Elise Brady and Eleanor Sturm each posted a win in singles.
Damonte nips CHS boys
Damonte Ranch edged Carson in the tiebreaker to post a 10-9 win at Carson Thursday.
The Senators went 9-0 in doubles, as Taylor Saarem and Jayson Artz, Nico Salm and Danny Dudley, and Alec Henricksen and Stu McElhany all went 3-0. Carson lost all nine sets in singles.
