BUXTON (NewsDakota)- It was not the Carrington Cardinals’ best night, and they acknowledged as much in post-match. But still they opened Region 2A play with a win.
Despite 23 attack errors, the Cards (2-0, 1-0) defeated the Hillsboro/Central Valley Burros (0-2, 0-1) in five sets (20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 24-26, 15-12) on Thursday night at Central Valley High School for their second win in as many tries in 2026.
The first set was misery for Carrington, who allowed two separate five-point runs on service games from Chloe Thies and Malia Bryl as the Burros took the opening set. The Cards responded in set two behind balanced hitting and improved defense, with Harper Kollman and Calleigh Hewitt collecting nine total kills for a 25-20 set win to level the match.
The Cardinals would take control of the third set late, with a rally from 17-13 down on Aniston Hoornaert’s serve to take the set 25-21. In the fourth set, Carrington had four match points at 24-20 before Kloe Ackerman reeled off the final six points of the set and for the second consecutive year on the road, the Cards were forced to a decisive set.
Worse, the Burros scored five of the first six points of the fifth set and led 10-7 when Marah Johnson took to serve. She would go on a 5-0 run, which proved decisive as Carrington won the final set 15-12. Hewitt finished with nineteen kills and Kollman added seventeen of her own.
The Cardinal return home on Tuesday to host the Northern Cass Jaguars inside the East Gymnasium. Coverage on KDAK The Cardinal & YouTube will begin around 6:45pm
