The Carbon High volleyball team faced plenty of challenges over the course of the 2013 season. But the greatest challenges tend to come under the brightest of lights and the 3A State Tournament at UVU provided that opportunity.
Unfortunately for Carbon, the results didn’t follow. A gut-wrenching five-set loss to Stansbury (25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 14-25, 13-15) to open the tournament left the team heartbroken over the missed opportunity of advancing.
“You almost always have to play perfect in the fifth set if you want to win,” said CHS head coach Danielle Jensen on Monday morning. “We took an early 2-1 set lead but we let Stansbury back into the game by not playing aggressive and having too many errors.”
The young team, with only three seniors on the squad, experienced the highs and the lows of state tournament play. Sophomore Jordan Scoggins’s last shot hit the antenna on the net, giving Stansbury the final point for the win.
“That was a tough way to end a game for the team and especially for a young player like Jordan to experience that,” Jensen explained.
To show the competitiveness between the two schools, Carbon and Stansbury played the only five-set game on Friday among the 3A teams at state. Many of the other games ended in sweeps.
With the loss to Stansbury, Carbon was sent to the consolation bracket and a game with Dixie, who lost to Morgan earlier in the day.
After enduring such a tough loss to start the day, Jensen said the girls came out a little sluggish against a tough Dixie team and were never able to recover.
Dixie took advantage early and quickly came away with a three-set sweep (17-25, 18-25, 8-25) to send the Lady Dinos home early from the tournament.
One scary moment for Carbon happened late in the game against Dixie. Lindsay Blanc, a freshman, took a ball to her face when a Dixie player made a kill attempt. Jensen said Blanc suffered a concussion but was able to rejoin the team on the bench before the game was finished.
While the two losses were not exactly what the Lady Dinos were expecting going in to the tournament, some good did come out of the experience at state. Jensen was able to have the entire bench get into the game to get some game experience on the biggest stage of the season.
Jensen said while the experience at state could have worked out better, the tough losses can serve as a way of motivating the team in the offseason to work hard and make it back to state.
“I told the girls to remember this feeling and work hard not to let this happen again next year,” said Jensen. “We’re a good ball club but we still have a long ways to go.”
With the season now complete, the Lady Dinos finished with an overall record of 9-13 and a second place finish in Region 12 play.
“I’m pleased with how the season went as the girls progressed and worked hard,” she said.
With the team losing just three seniors, Jensen believes that next year’s team has plenty of promise.
“I believe we can be just as good next year and I’m excited to see how the girls progress over the offseason.”
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