Carroll volleyball tops East in opener

The unforced errors by the Bishop Carroll and East volleyball teams Tuesday night weren’t unexpected. It was the City League opener, and both teams were adjusting to new lineups.

Carroll’s biggest change is moving to a 5-1 offense with junior setter Molly Dugan, while East moved Allegra Carson, a middle for two years, to the outside and senior Jayden Tatman moved from defensive specialist to setter.

There were plenty of unforced errors — both had 12 in the first set — but Carroll and East battled, with Carroll winning 25-23, 25-22.

Carroll also beat West 25-5, 25-6, and East beat West 25-6, 25-14.

“Our first match, so we always see what we’re doing well and what we need to work on,” said Carroll coach Rita Mernagh, whose team will play in the Valley Center tournament on Saturday. “ I thought our defense at times was good. We’re being smarter with what we’re doing with the ball. But we have alot of new starters.”

Dugan ran the offense well, too.

“The 5-1 is different, and it’s an adjustment,” she said. “I think we’re dealing with it really well. It’s having a setter front row and dealing with running all our different plays. It’s a lot of pressure on me, but it’s OK, because the team will pick up anything that goes wrong.”

Dugan consistently found senior outside Jessi Haffner, who had 13 kills against West and seven against East. But Dugan also mixed it up as the Eagles got kills from junior outside Taylor Bevis (six against East, eight overall), Lyndsey Becker (seven overall) and Lily Nicholas (seven overall).

“I know I can give them anything, and they can do something with it,” Dugan said. “It’s nice to know I have reliable hitters up there. Jessi’s arm is very strong, and it kind of scares me.”

Dugan laughed, but Haffner’s arm is wicked. She’s a two-time All-Metro pitcher and has made an oral commitment to play softball at Oklahoma State.

After East’s Allegra Carson tied the score at 9-all in the first set with consecutive kills, Carroll answered with a kill from Haffner, who followed with an offspeed kill to the middle of the floor.

East cut into Carroll’s lead at 21-20 on two kills by Carson — she had five in the set —but Carroll ended the match with a kill by middle Haley Northcutt.

Carson had seven kills against Carroll, nine overall.

In the second set, Carroll quickly built a 10-5 lead. But East responded by scoring seven of the next nine points, including five on Carroll errors.

Down 19-17, East got a kill from freshman Emma Walsh and Carson followed with a kill to help the Aces take a 20-19 lead.

“I thought (Carson) did fabulous,” East coach Randi Godown said. “She’s doing well out there. I saw a lot of people stepping up and doing things that were good. We have a lot of people in different positions that they haven’t played before, and I’m very happy about the future.”

Carroll ended the match, though, with a stuff block by Bevis, a Haffner kill and two kills from the right side by Becker.

Carroll senior Jessi Haffner interviews 3 teammates

Carroll's Molly Dugan, Haley Northcutt and Taylor Bevis interview teammate Jessi Haffner

This story was originally published September 10, 2013 at 9:55 PM.