Lady Tiger VB Sees Opportunity Slip Away In Loss To NorthWood
October 2, 2021 at 4:47 a.m.
Lady Tiger VB Sees Opportunity Slip Away In Loss To NorthWood
By Anthony Anderson-
There was, however, no shortage of talking points afterwards — at least eventually.
Tiger coach Chandra Hepler huddled in the locker room with her team for more than 45 minutes.
“I was kind of at a loss for words there, because really, that was our match,” Hepler said of what she shared with her players. “We came in here knowing we had to win this match, (so) we were not looking beyond this match.
“Our girls were thoroughly ready,” Hepler added. “I just think mentally we were kind of on a roller-coaster ride tonight, so we didn’t have leaders step up to finish and execute. I think the bottom line is they didn’t believe in themselves.”
The Class 3A No. 5-ranked Panthers rallied to prevail 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 15-4.
NorthWood (26-2, 6-0) can cap a perfect NLC season with a win next Thursday at Wawasee (19-6, 1-5).
Warsaw (17-13, 5-1) can only tie for the league title with a win Thursday at Concord (15-8, 4-2) accompanied by Wawasee upsetting the Panthers.
In the final set against the Tigers — after trailing often in each of the first four sets — NorthWood racked up four of the initial five points, nine of the first 11 and each of the final six.
“The fifth sets that we’ve been in — or the third ones in tournaments — our players have shown they just want to battle you,” Panther coach Hilary Laidig said. “They come out and serve really tough, and that’s big.”
Laidig praised her youthful club, with just two seniors, for “the way they composed themselves. We came back from a 9-2 (deficit) to win that third set. For young kids, that shows some great older-kid leadership. They earned this tonight. They weren’t careful. They went for it.”
NorthWood has won 25 of 26 matches since falling 3-0 in its season opener at Class 4A top-ranked Penn, and its two leading attackers this season have been freshmen Sophia Barber and Claire Payne.
Payne registered a team-high 16 kills against the Tigers to go with three blocks. Barber and senior Alana Lehman added a dozen kills apiece, with Lehman blending in five blocks.
For Warsaw, junior Kaylee Weeks hammered down a match-high 17 kills and sophomore Melaina Hawblitzel added 16. Senior Abby Sanner made five blocks, senior Abbie Porter served up a match-high four aces and senior Kylie Smith notched 31 digs.
“We had way too many errors,” Hepler said. “We had 10 aces, (but also) 10 errors serving. … As a whole we hit at only .169, which is the lowest we’ve had in awhile.”
Hepler acknowledged that she found some of the officiating “inconsistent,” but added “that’s OK, you have games where you have that. … The bottom line is our girls didn’t execute when it mattered. It was a clean slate going into that fifth set, and our passing fell apart. We weren’t able to run our middles, so every ball was outside, outside, outside and very predictable.”
Even with the loss, the Tigers are 14-5 over their last 19 matches, and all five defeats have been by one set, including the 3-2 on Thursday to go with a quartet of 2-1 scores in invitationals.
“When we are on, when we have momentum, I love our energy,” Hepler said. “When the girls believe in themselves, they are untouchable, but you could see us come out the first set so strong, then the second set, just come down, and then the fourth set, be on such a high, so we wavered on our mental toughness.”
Warsaw’s 13-match NLC winning streak dating back to 2019 was snapped with Thursday’s loss. The Tigers, besides being undefeated league champs a year ago, are 23-4 in the conference over the last four years.
NorthWood improved to 19-1 over the last three years, the lone loss being last fall at Warsaw.
The Tigers took Thursday’s JV match 25-14, 24-25, 15-13.
There was, however, no shortage of talking points afterwards — at least eventually.
Tiger coach Chandra Hepler huddled in the locker room with her team for more than 45 minutes.
“I was kind of at a loss for words there, because really, that was our match,” Hepler said of what she shared with her players. “We came in here knowing we had to win this match, (so) we were not looking beyond this match.
“Our girls were thoroughly ready,” Hepler added. “I just think mentally we were kind of on a roller-coaster ride tonight, so we didn’t have leaders step up to finish and execute. I think the bottom line is they didn’t believe in themselves.”
The Class 3A No. 5-ranked Panthers rallied to prevail 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 15-4.
NorthWood (26-2, 6-0) can cap a perfect NLC season with a win next Thursday at Wawasee (19-6, 1-5).
Warsaw (17-13, 5-1) can only tie for the league title with a win Thursday at Concord (15-8, 4-2) accompanied by Wawasee upsetting the Panthers.
In the final set against the Tigers — after trailing often in each of the first four sets — NorthWood racked up four of the initial five points, nine of the first 11 and each of the final six.
“The fifth sets that we’ve been in — or the third ones in tournaments — our players have shown they just want to battle you,” Panther coach Hilary Laidig said. “They come out and serve really tough, and that’s big.”
Laidig praised her youthful club, with just two seniors, for “the way they composed themselves. We came back from a 9-2 (deficit) to win that third set. For young kids, that shows some great older-kid leadership. They earned this tonight. They weren’t careful. They went for it.”
NorthWood has won 25 of 26 matches since falling 3-0 in its season opener at Class 4A top-ranked Penn, and its two leading attackers this season have been freshmen Sophia Barber and Claire Payne.
Payne registered a team-high 16 kills against the Tigers to go with three blocks. Barber and senior Alana Lehman added a dozen kills apiece, with Lehman blending in five blocks.
For Warsaw, junior Kaylee Weeks hammered down a match-high 17 kills and sophomore Melaina Hawblitzel added 16. Senior Abby Sanner made five blocks, senior Abbie Porter served up a match-high four aces and senior Kylie Smith notched 31 digs.
“We had way too many errors,” Hepler said. “We had 10 aces, (but also) 10 errors serving. … As a whole we hit at only .169, which is the lowest we’ve had in awhile.”
Hepler acknowledged that she found some of the officiating “inconsistent,” but added “that’s OK, you have games where you have that. … The bottom line is our girls didn’t execute when it mattered. It was a clean slate going into that fifth set, and our passing fell apart. We weren’t able to run our middles, so every ball was outside, outside, outside and very predictable.”
Even with the loss, the Tigers are 14-5 over their last 19 matches, and all five defeats have been by one set, including the 3-2 on Thursday to go with a quartet of 2-1 scores in invitationals.
“When we are on, when we have momentum, I love our energy,” Hepler said. “When the girls believe in themselves, they are untouchable, but you could see us come out the first set so strong, then the second set, just come down, and then the fourth set, be on such a high, so we wavered on our mental toughness.”
Warsaw’s 13-match NLC winning streak dating back to 2019 was snapped with Thursday’s loss. The Tigers, besides being undefeated league champs a year ago, are 23-4 in the conference over the last four years.
NorthWood improved to 19-1 over the last three years, the lone loss being last fall at Warsaw.
The Tigers took Thursday’s JV match 25-14, 24-25, 15-13.
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