| Brittney Gustas and Tia Pappas play a solid back court for the Dinos. |
It could have been the “Thrilla in Manilla” except that it was played in Mt. Pleasant instead. The Carbon Dino volleyball squad entered the North Sanpete Hawks domain and fought tooth and nail with the Dinos walking away with the win.
Carbon had to go five full games to take the victory and it came down to two final points in game five to secure the win. The Dinos jumped out to a 25-20 win in game one. North Sanpete took games two and three, 17-25 and 19-25, to put themselves on the verge of knocking the Dinos off their win streak.
The Dinos have heart and a desire to go undefeated this season in region play so they dug deep to find just a bit more and took game four 25-22. Neither team wanted to give an inch in the final set in the match. But Carbon wanted it just a bit more and edged out the Hawks 17-15 in the end.
This was the first time since August 24th against Uintah that the Carbon squad has had to play more than three games to take a match. “If you were there and part of it, it is a match you will never forget.” stated Coach Cristen Johnson. “It was pretty exciting and our backs were up against a wall. It was encouraging to see that kind of play in the fourth game where they had to win. That momentum carried us into the fifth game for the win.”
| Coach Cristen Jonhson knows just when to step in and settle her squad down to keep them on track to sweep their way through region eight play. |
The team had to play without one of its started, Whitney Oliver is waiting on results of an MRI concerning her knee injury. Johnson pulled in several of her bench to fill in, Cherelle Julian played on the front line and Freshmen Alexis Oliver and Tia Pappas shared time in the back court. “This was a lot of pressure to put on the freshmen, but they handled it well.”
Julia Potts drove the offense with 38 set assists and helped the defense with 12 defensive digs. Twenty-one kills and 11 defensive digs were added to Megan Garvin’s impressive stats. Brittany Greenwood added 12 kills and 13 defensive digs. Erika Potts led the defense with 13 defensive digs in an overall team effort.
It was a tough week for the Dinos, but they came through with two more wins to bring their overall record to 19-5. They are 6-0 in region play with two home games to go. Johnson felt like these tough matches were just what the doctor ordered to get the team at peak performance for the state tournament. One more win secures the region title for the Dinos. They are shooting for a region sweep.
The team hosts Emery on Tuesday at 6:30 and then finishes up with Juan Diego on Thursday at 6:30. Both matches will take play at the Carbon High gym.