Springs Valley Community High School

Early in the second set of Tuesday’s matchup against West Washington, the Springs Valley volleyball team led 6-5. After breezing through the first set — a 25-8 affair — the Blackhawks were a little slower out of the gate. Then, Leigh Carnes decided to turn up their tempo. She spiked a ball down the sideline for a kill, getting a sideout and sending herself back to serve. Then she dropped an ace in the gaps of the Senators’ defense. She wrapped up her three-point outburst with a push to the far corner, drawing West Washington to her side of the court with the threat of a spike before sending it softly to the area of the floor they’d just vacated. Suddenly the score was 9-5 and the gap between the teams would only get wider as Springs Valley would win the second set 25-8, then the third 25-3 to complete the Blackhawks’ sweep of the Senators. And that movement was far from Carnes’ only impact on the symphony that was the Blackhawks’ performance. She finished with eight kills on 14 attempts, 17 assists, and five digs as well as a team-high seven aces and 22 points won on 23 serve attempts. “Leigh played great and was a force both at the net and the serving line,” Springs Valley coach Erin Carnes said. “She sees things before they happen and has a way of keeping other teams out of system.” It was a strong night all around for the Blackhawk attack. They racked up 39 kills on 65 attempts with just six errors, giving them an unreal hitting efficiency of .508 as a unit. Tynley Kluesner topped the squad in kills with nine on 14 attempts, then came Leigh Carnes. Behind those two, Alayna Denbo had seven kills on 10 attempts, Maddie Carnes had six on 13, Brynne Buchanan had five on seven, Bella Nottger had three on five and Molly Tucker converted her one attempt into one kill. “Everybody had crazy-good kills tonight,” Erin Carnes said. “I think Tynley led by one, then it was Leigh and it was just eight, seven, six, five on down — everybody took their turn and when we got a hold of it it wasn’t coming back too often.” Against West Washington, the Blackhawks also got the chance to try out some different things schematically, which is always a boost at this point in the season. Their head coach was pleased with the way that went. “We were trying to run some different sets that we hadn’t done [previously], and it looked like we’ve been practicing them for a long time,” Erin Carnes said. “It was good to have everyone out there. When we’re clicking together, good things happen.” Springs Valley (11-2, 2-0 PLAC) took care of business once again on Tuesday, making it nine matches in a row now that they’ve won. In those nine matches they’ve lost just a single set. It’s the sort of consistent success that Erin Carnes likes to see out of her squad as the season heats up: “I think the part that we’re at now is that I’m so used to seeing it that it almost seems like they’re on autopilot,” she said. “The girls are just going and going during the set, then I look up to see the score thinking that things seem a little slow and we’re up by 20 points. It’s a very good situation that we’re in, the girls are playing very well together, and things are heading in the right direction.” The Blackhawks will return to action on Thursday at Southridge. SPRINGS VALLEY 3, WEST WASHINGTON 0 West Washington 8 8 3 — 0 Springs Valley 25 25 25 — 3 Springs Valley: Tynley Kluesner 9 kills, 2 digs, 3 aces,1 block; Leigh Carnes 8 kills, 17 assists, 5 digs, 7 aces; Alayna Denbo 7 kills, 2 blocks; Maddie Carnes 6 kills, 17 assists, 5 digs, 1 ace; Brynne Buchanan 5 kills, 3 digs, 5 aces; Bella Nottger 3 kills, 1 assist, 4 aces; Molly Tucker 1 kill, 4 digs, 1 ace; Kenzie Harrell 3 digs.