Stefanie Schmidt bumps the ball to the front line in a game against Hug on Tuesday.
Ku’ulei Haupu made her season debut a good one.
The 5-foot-11 Haupu, who was ineligible academically at the start of the season, contributed seven kills and an ace to lead Carson High’s volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-6 and 25-4 win over Hug on Tuesday in a Northern 4A match at Morse Burley Gym.
Carson improved to 2-2 heading into Thursday’s match at North Valleys (6 p.m.).
“It was Ku’ulei’s first time on the floor, and I thought she played well,” Carson coach Robert Maw said. “She makes us a much more dangerous team with her power and athleticism.
“I was happy to get all the girls some time. Overall, it went as we expected. It was good to get Ku’ulei back.”
Haupu made her presence felt immediately, recording two kills to give the Senators a 10-7 lead over the energized Hawks, who gave Carson all it wanted in the first game. The Senators appeared listless and didn’t play with a lot of energy.
Hug battled back, trimming Carson’s lead to 14-13 on an ace and a Camryn Quilling hitting error. The Senators scored 10 of the next 14 points to take control at 21-15.
Quilling and Natalie Anderson got the streak going with kills and, after a service error, Stefanie Schmidt and Dajarrah Navarro added kills to make it 18-14. Schmidt had a service error to make it 18-15, and then Carson scored three straight, two on Hug errors, to make it 21-15.
Hug closed to 21-17, but Carson ran off the next four, including an ace by Haupu, to close out the opening game.
“We had some missed serves and we had some balls that were barely out,” Maw said. “I don’t think it was a big deal. It’s things that we can fix.”
“We had a lot of unforced errors,” Anderson said. “I think we were too light-hearted going into the match.”
Easy to do. Hug is always in the lower half of the High Desert League. Carson played down to that level.
The Senators opened the second game with a 12-2 surge.
Haupu was key with four kills, while Abigail Pradere served an ace, Schmidt served up two and added a kill, Navarro had a kill and Shea DeJoseph added an ace.
After a Schmidt service error, Carson ran off seven straight thanks to five Hug errors and a kill by Navarro and an ace by Anderson.
Carson ended the game with a 6-3 surge.
Pradere, who finished with 32 assists, served up 13 straight points to start the third game. Four of the points were aces. Schmidt had two kills and DeJoseph added one in the streak. Hug scored two straight, but Carson rebounded with four straight to make it 17-2.
DeJoseph had another ace and Audrey Breeding had a kill. Cheyanne Prado-Holland helped close out the set and match with two aces.
