RENO — The race for second place and homecourt advantage for the first round of the playoffs just got a little tighter.
Carson fell to 8-5 in Northern 4A play after being swept by Damonte Ranch, 23-25, 21-25 and 19-25, on Tuesday.
The win by Damonte avenged a tough five-set loss to Carson the first time around. Damonte, Galena and Carson are battling for the second spot. Carson has matches at Wooster on Thursday, home against Manogue on Monday and home against Douglas on Tuesday.
“You can’t play the game if you can’t pass,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “We may go back to a morning practice just to work on our passing. That got their attention the last time.”
The passing problem has been a constant, and Maw even moved Abby Pradere to the left side in an effort to curb the problem.
“Abby passed well, but the supporting cast didn’t,” Maw said. “I’m really frustrated right now.”
Trailing 2-0 in sets, the Senators bolted to a 7-0 lead in the third set on the strength of three Natalie Anderson aces, a combined stuff block by Stefanie Schmidt and Dajarrah Navarro, a Damonte error and a solo block by Navarro.
Sniffing a sweep, the Mustangs scored 14 of the next 18 points to grab a 14-11 lead. Carson didn’t help itself with three straight hitting errors, and then Alyssa Zurro and McKinley Thiede combined for a block on Shea DeJoseph and Zurro pounded home a kill to complete a 6-0 surge and make it 7-6.
The Mustangs went in front 11-9 on two kills by Allie Pickett and an ace by Zurro. Carson tied it at 11. The set was tied at 15, 17, 18 and 19 before the Mustangs ran off six points, with two aces by Zurro, to send the Senators back to Carson a lot sooner than they expected.
Carson led in the first set 20-14, but couldn’t hold on. Damonte went on an 8-1 surge to take a 22-21 lead. Pickett had two kills and her sister, Casey, also had two kills. Carson tied the match at 22 on a Damonte service error, but mistakes by Carson enabled the Mustangs to win the set.
The second set saw seven ties before the Mustangs went on an 8-3 run to open a 20-16 lead. Allie Pickett had five kills in that stretch. Carson closed to two three times, 20-18, 22-20 and 23-21 before a block by Thiede on Camryn Quilling and a hitting error by Schmidt ended the set.
Allie Pickett led Damonte with 15 kills and DeJoseph led Carson with 13 kills. Navarro finished with eight kills and Ku’ulei Haupu added seven. Pradere had 13 assists and eight digs.
STATE GIRLS GOLF
Beglins finish in the top 20
LAS VEGAS — Jill Beglin tied for 14th and Karen Beglin tied for 17th, as the 4A NIAA State Championships concluded Tuesday afternoon at Highland Falls Golf Course.
Jill Beglin shot a second-day 77 to finish at 158. Karen Beglin shot a second-day 78 to finish at 160. The rest of the squad struggled, as Carson finished sixth as a team with a two-day total of 774. Coronado won the event with a score of 600.
Kassidy Cooley (117-108-225), Valerie Wamsley (113-118-231), Gabby Montes (118-132-250) and Jessika Montes (136-149-285) rounded out the Carson scoring.
Jill Beglin went out in 4-over-par 40, but shot a 1-over-par on the back nine. Karen Beglin went out in 38 and came home on the back with a 40. Kassidy Cooley, who struggled with her short game on Monday, shave nine strokes off her Monday score. The 108 was her third-lowest score of the season.
Sydney Smith of Faith Lutheran won the individual title with a 2-under-par 142. Hunter Pate of Bishop Gorman and Annick Haczkiewicz tied for second at 144. The top Northern Nevada finisher was Reno’s Abbi Fleiner, who tied for seventh with a 149.
GIRLS SOCCER
Carson rally falls short
RENO — Carson suddenly found its offense in the last nine minutes of Tuesday’s match, but the Senators’ rally fell a goal short.
Trailing 5-1 after a goal by Jasmine Alvarez in the 63rd minute, the Senators scored three times in the final nine minutes en route to a 5-4 setback.
Carson’s Yanitzia Perez gave the Senators a 1-0 lead in the first half, but the Mustangs had five unanswered goals. Bella Wakeling started the comeback with a goal in the 71st minute followed by Perez’s goal in the 75th minute. Less than a minute later, Wakeling scored again to make it 5-4.
“I’m really proud,” said first-year coach Jose Garcia. “I think we learned a lot from this game. We learned to play as a team. Sometimes we have played as individuals.”
JV CROSS COUNTRY
Carson girls 5th at meet
SPARKS - The Carson JV girls finished fifth at Tuesday’s Spanish Springs Invitational at Golden Eagle Park.
Reno won with 17 points followed by Douglas at 77, McQueen, 87, Damonte, 99 and Carson, 118.
Ava Covington was the top finisher, taking ninth in 24:05. Sarai Jauregui-Rivas was 13th in 24:40. Hailey Ponzoch was 28th in 25:39, Emily Richardson was 33rd in a PR of 25:55 and Gabby Cazares was 75th in 31:24.
The Carson boys were seventh with 195. Spanish Springs and McQueen went 1-2 with 43 and 50 points, respectively.
Senior Paxton Spence was the top CHS finisher, taking seventh in a PR of 19:12. Jared Cartier was 35th in 20:51, Jakob Heller was 46th in 21:10, Jacob Crossman was 61st in a PR of 21:35 and Andrew Ingram was 66th in 21:43.
The varsity championship is being contested on Friday in Sparks.
