Carson sweeps Panthers

For the second time in three days, Carson High's volleyball team recorded a sweep.

The Senators evened their record at 4-4 after knocking off North Valleys, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-17, Thursday night at Morse Burley Gymnasium.

"It was a good win," Carson coach Robert Maw said. "Winning is always good. Our goal was to have 30 or less errors. We had 39, so we didn't reach that goal.

"We hung in, got a few calls and the girls showed character. They did a good job of staying fairly even keel."

That is not an easy thing to do when you are coming from behind, which Carson had to do in each of the first two games. Carson came back from deficits of 13-7 and 14-5 to win the first two games. Carson never trailed in Game 3 after bolting out to a 7-0 lead.

Maw said he can't put his finger on why Carson started so slow, unless it was because his team took North Valleys way too lightly. Simply put, Carson hasn't done well enough this year to start doing that.

Two kills and two Carson hitting errors enabled North Valleys to grab an early 8-3 lead. Carson closed to 9-7, and then North Valleys used an ace and three Carson mistakes to gain its biggest lead of the game, 13-7.

Carson reeled off 13 of the next 14 points to gain a 20-14 lead. Eight of the Carson points were the result of hitting or ball-handling errors. Kenzie Price (7 kills) had a kill and Cameron Sievers served up an ace.

North Valleys scored the next three points to pull to within 20-17, but the Panthers made a rash of errors allowing Carson to put the game away.

In Game 2, North Valleys broke open a 7-5 game with seven straight points for a 14-5 advantage. The Senators missed long on four straight hitting attempts.

The Senators went on a 15-3 surge to grab a 20-17 lead and take control of the game. Kammy Forrest had three kills in the surge, while Danielle Good added two kills and two aces.

In the final game, Courtney Hack had a kill and two aces in the aforementioned 7-0 run, Price also contributed a kill in that span.

After North Valleys scored two straight points, Carson scored six of the next seven points for a 13-3 lead. Four of the points came off North Valleys hitting errors. Hack, who finished with six kills and three digs, had a well-placed tip in that span. North Valleys would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Hack believes the Senators have turned a corner, and she said attitude played a big role in the two comeback wins. Hack is also showing her skills at keeping opponents off balance with her dinks and tips.

"It feels amazing to play as a team," she said. "I think we're coming together. Attitude helps us stay in it. We struggled at the beginning of the year.

"You only have a split second to make that decision. If the block isn't there, I'll take my chances at getting the tip."