MENTONE - The Three Rivers Conference has been very tight this year, so tight in fact that both Valley and Whitko volleyball teams had a shot of gaining at least a share of the title on Wednesday despite having two losses each in the conference.

For Valley, it is quite a step up from previous seasons when the Vikings never even thought about having a shot at winning the conference. But this has been a record-breaking season for Valley in terms of wins.

However, Whitko stepped it up on the road for a 15-7, 15-5 victory that secured a tie for the conference championship. It was the Wildcats' final conference game of the season, while Valley has one left to play with a tough Southwood squad.

"They played really well tonight," head coach Jennifer Freel said. "They came in to the game hungry and ready to win. It was probably one of the better games they've played as far as playing as a team. A lot was riding on this game as far as TRC standings, and they came in and did the job."

Whitko took it to Valley from the beginning. The Wildcats scored six straight points to take a 7-1 lead early behind a pair of aces from Trisha Peters.

However, Valley began to chip away at the lead and closed to 9-7 as Brandy Manns matched Peters with back-to-back aces and Rhonda Doud dished out assists to Andria Parker and Brandi Fisher.

But Whitko reasserted itself as BrieAnn Starkweather had three kills on assists from Kelly Osborn, and Tisha Rowland served six consecutive points for a 15-7 win in the first game.

In game two, Valley took an early 4-2 lead, but then fell apart as Whitko reeled off 11 unanswered points. Osborn stepped up offensively, taking part in eight of the points. She had three kills, four assists and an ace as the Wildcats took a 13-4 advantage. Valley scored one point to get within eight of the lead, but Whitko closed out the match on a pair of Valley errors and a kill by Amber Landis for the 15-5 win.

"Osborn started playing varsity as a freshman," Freel said. "She leads the team even though she's a junior. BrieAnn Starkweather played a pretty outstanding game. She hit the ball well and had quite a few kills. Really, the whole team played well. Everyone was on their toes and it was a total team effort."

Head coach Jon Parker was disappointed with the outcome of the game.

"We set a goal to be in contention for the TRC title," Parker said. "The loss tonight took us out of contention. I think we were emotionally as ready to go as we've ever been, maybe too much. I didn't bring them back down. The girls wanted this really bad, so bad I think they pressured themselves into making errors that we usually don't make. I will give Whitko a lot of credit. They played us well."

Valley will close out the season against Southwood on Monday at 6 p.m. and then play 21-4 Fort Wayne Elmhurst in the sectional opener on Oct. 16.

"They should be ranked," Parker said. "I don't know why they are not. They beat a lot of the Fort Wayne teams. They are an excellent ball club. We got the toughest draw there is. No one wanted Elmhurst, but that's all right. We played our best game of the season against Elkhart Central, which is very comparable to them. We're going to go up there to win."

Whitko will host the Whitko Invitational on Saturday at 9 a.m. before gearing up for the sectional bye game against Carroll (Fort Wayne). [[In-content Ad]]