It took five sets on Tuesday against Juab and another five sets with Richfield on Thursday, for the Lady Dino Volleyball team to pick up the final two region wins. The Juab victory secured Carbon second place in Region 12. The Richfield win was icing on the cake, as Carbon finished the regular season at 6-3 in region play.
Prior to Thursday night’s game, senior players Whitney Gagon, Shelby Cornforth and Annika Hansen were each honored. This set the stage for a strong Dino performance.
Richfield only posted one region win which came early on in the season against a struggling Dino team. As game one took shape on Thursday, it looked like Carbon was going to let that happen again. But midway through the second set, the Lady Dinos found their confidence and scored a win.
Game three was a little closer, but the Dinos pulled ahead 2-1 over the Wildcats. Just when it appeared Carbon might end the night early, Richfield came roaring back with a decisive win in set three. A frustrated Dino coach, Danielle Jensen gathered the team before the final set and spoke from her heart. The team responded and finished with a victory.
Coach Jensen said that she is really proud of the team. She was especially happy with the leadership of the seniors and the progress they have made during the season.
As second seed, the Dinos will face the third seed from Region 11. That will most likely be Grantsville. Jensen says that after that it gets very tough. They will then meet up with Morgan or Dixie.
Since Carbon has a fairly young team and they did not go to state last year, Jensen knows this will be a learning experience for most of the girls. This puts them at a disadvantage against power teams like Morgan and Dixie, who seem to make the playoffs each year.
“Experience makes a difference,” said Jensen, “We are going to get some good experience this year and look to build on that for next season.”
