Wawasee Spikers Beat Lady Squires
August 31, 2016 at 5:48 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
While first-year Lady Warriors head coach Kayla Riportella can’t speak for the past, she’s certainly aware of the benchmark the 2016 team established with the victory. Playing on the road, Wawasee chose to generate its own momentum, with each winning point its own small but intense party during the comeback.
“We’ve only gone five sets with one other team, and that was our first match against Tippecanoe Valley. And that was a disappointing loss, especially after winning the first two (sets),” she said. “But this was the best comeback I’ve seen, the best energy I’ve seen on the court, and the best win I’ve seen all season.”
After dropping the third set by 10 points, Wawasee started its comeback by taking an early five-point lead, then slowly building on the margin while securing an 11-point win. Likewise, in the fifth and deciding set, Wawasee got off to a five-point lead and never looked back from there.
“We’ve played at home only a couple of times this season, and our games at home are intense,” Riportella said. “We have an awesome cheer section, and awesome parent support. We’ve had some trouble in the last couple of matches generating our own power, our own support, our own volume and our own confidence. And that was something that we’ve been focusing on in practice; staying confident, staying aggressive and pushing through the rough patches. We did a really, really great job of that today.”
Wawasee was paced by Olivia Clouse’s nine kills, Seaquinn Bright’s 31 digs and Taylor Mock with 16 assists.
For the Lady Squires, it was the second five-set home loss in six days. Manchester coach Rebekah Haynes said there wasn’t necessarily a connection between the two matches.
“Not to use it as an excuse, but right now more than half my team isn’t feeling well,” Haynes said. “For a good chunk of the night they did well overcoming that, but when you’re not feeling well and you have to play five games, it’s really challenging to push through that all night long.
“But with that, we lost our communication, and that’s a major part of our game. If we lose that, we start to not play very well.”
Manchester was led by Cierra Carter with 14 kills, while Kendra Auler had 22 assists and three aces, and Emma West was credited with 20 digs.
Wawasee won the junior varsity match 25-14, 25-16 over Manchester.
The Lady Warriors improved to 2-4 on the season and will open Northern Lakes Conference play Thursday when Plymouth visits the Hardwood Tepee. Manchester (4-6) opens Three Rivers Conference play when it hosts Wabash Thursday.
WAWASEE 3, MANCHESTER 2
W 25 19 16 25 15
M 21 25 25 14 9
Wawasee (leaders): Kills – Olivia Clouse 9, Hannah-Marie Lamle 7; Digs – Seaquinn Bright 31, Madie Wilson 19; Assists – Taylor Mock 16, Brooke Heche 10
Manchester: Aces – Kendra Auler 3, Kennedy Rosen 1; Digs – Emma West 20, Cierra Carter 8, Auler 8, Emma Casper 8. Sydney Day 7, Paige Wagoner 3; Rosen 2, Mattie McKee 1; Kills – Carter 14, Rosen 6, Osborne 5, McKee 5, Day 4, Auler 1; Blocks – Day 2, Rosen 1; Assists – Auler 22, Osborne 1, Carter 1.
JV – Wawasee def. Manchester 25-14, 25-16
Wawasee: Kills – Elizabeth Kleopfer 8; Digs – Caitlin Wortinger 13; Aces – Janae Hepler 3, Leia Munn 2
Manchester: Kills – Kara Kline 3, Kennidy Lauer 1, Kiera Hatfield 1, Halie Wampler 1, Sydney Day 1; Assists – Day 2, Wampler 1; Aces – Hatfield 2, Auler 2, Day 1; Digs – Lydia Greer 5, Hatfield 5, Day 3, Kline 3, Wampler 1.
While first-year Lady Warriors head coach Kayla Riportella can’t speak for the past, she’s certainly aware of the benchmark the 2016 team established with the victory. Playing on the road, Wawasee chose to generate its own momentum, with each winning point its own small but intense party during the comeback.
“We’ve only gone five sets with one other team, and that was our first match against Tippecanoe Valley. And that was a disappointing loss, especially after winning the first two (sets),” she said. “But this was the best comeback I’ve seen, the best energy I’ve seen on the court, and the best win I’ve seen all season.”
After dropping the third set by 10 points, Wawasee started its comeback by taking an early five-point lead, then slowly building on the margin while securing an 11-point win. Likewise, in the fifth and deciding set, Wawasee got off to a five-point lead and never looked back from there.
“We’ve played at home only a couple of times this season, and our games at home are intense,” Riportella said. “We have an awesome cheer section, and awesome parent support. We’ve had some trouble in the last couple of matches generating our own power, our own support, our own volume and our own confidence. And that was something that we’ve been focusing on in practice; staying confident, staying aggressive and pushing through the rough patches. We did a really, really great job of that today.”
Wawasee was paced by Olivia Clouse’s nine kills, Seaquinn Bright’s 31 digs and Taylor Mock with 16 assists.
For the Lady Squires, it was the second five-set home loss in six days. Manchester coach Rebekah Haynes said there wasn’t necessarily a connection between the two matches.
“Not to use it as an excuse, but right now more than half my team isn’t feeling well,” Haynes said. “For a good chunk of the night they did well overcoming that, but when you’re not feeling well and you have to play five games, it’s really challenging to push through that all night long.
“But with that, we lost our communication, and that’s a major part of our game. If we lose that, we start to not play very well.”
Manchester was led by Cierra Carter with 14 kills, while Kendra Auler had 22 assists and three aces, and Emma West was credited with 20 digs.
Wawasee won the junior varsity match 25-14, 25-16 over Manchester.
The Lady Warriors improved to 2-4 on the season and will open Northern Lakes Conference play Thursday when Plymouth visits the Hardwood Tepee. Manchester (4-6) opens Three Rivers Conference play when it hosts Wabash Thursday.
WAWASEE 3, MANCHESTER 2
W 25 19 16 25 15
M 21 25 25 14 9
Wawasee (leaders): Kills – Olivia Clouse 9, Hannah-Marie Lamle 7; Digs – Seaquinn Bright 31, Madie Wilson 19; Assists – Taylor Mock 16, Brooke Heche 10
Manchester: Aces – Kendra Auler 3, Kennedy Rosen 1; Digs – Emma West 20, Cierra Carter 8, Auler 8, Emma Casper 8. Sydney Day 7, Paige Wagoner 3; Rosen 2, Mattie McKee 1; Kills – Carter 14, Rosen 6, Osborne 5, McKee 5, Day 4, Auler 1; Blocks – Day 2, Rosen 1; Assists – Auler 22, Osborne 1, Carter 1.
JV – Wawasee def. Manchester 25-14, 25-16
Wawasee: Kills – Elizabeth Kleopfer 8; Digs – Caitlin Wortinger 13; Aces – Janae Hepler 3, Leia Munn 2
Manchester: Kills – Kara Kline 3, Kennidy Lauer 1, Kiera Hatfield 1, Halie Wampler 1, Sydney Day 1; Assists – Day 2, Wampler 1; Aces – Hatfield 2, Auler 2, Day 1; Digs – Lydia Greer 5, Hatfield 5, Day 3, Kline 3, Wampler 1.
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