Columbia City Sweeps Warsaw Spikers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
The Warsaw Lady Tigers’ (7-4) latest setback came Tuesday night at Columbia City (10-1), when they were unexpectedly swept, 25-21, 26-24, 25-21.
“We’ve won games (against Warsaw), but we haven’t won a match,” sixth-year Columbia City coach Trish Hinen said about getting her first victory over the Lady Tigers. “So to win in three is really big.”
Hinen may have been surprised by the result, but as for Howard, he’s becoming desensitized to the losses, as the latest sweep was Warsaw’s third such defeat of the year.
“Nothing about this season really surprises me anymore,” Howard said. “This wouldn’t be what we’ve come to expect, but this is a different team, this is a different time.”
What he has come to expect is unforced errors, with the most obvious one coming late in the third game when a ball was allowed to drop to the court following a miscommunication, giving the Lady Eagles a pivotal 23-21 lead.
“The only thing that is consistent at this point are our repeated errors,” Howard said. “We had 12 or 13 service errors tonight and at least 25 hitting errors. That’s been the one consistent theme throughout the entire season. We make error after error after error. Whether it’s handling free balls, whether it’s being in system. Then it’s getting the quality swing and hitting it out-of-bounds, into the block or into the net. Until those things are fixed, it is difficult for us to win.”
Also making it hard for Warsaw to win at Columbia City were two Division I players on the other side of the net.
Columbia City senior outside hitter Kalisha Goree will be playing at Ohio State next season, and she had 10 kills in the match, along with numerous digs.
“She just defended the court and was all over the place,” Howard said. “Then, she just made smart plays. It isn’t like they swung a bunch.”
When the Lady Eagles did swing, they were most successful when 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker Gabrielle Hazen was doing it.
The future Northwestern University product had a match-high four blocks and 16 kills, her last being a thunderous one to end the match.
Goree and Hazen helped to offset Warsaw’s strengths, which are all-Northern Lakes Conference players Emily Poe and Katie Voelz.
Matching Goree at outside hitter, Poe had 10 kills, eight digs and two aces, while Voelz had nine kills, playing the same position as Hazen.
“Gabby’s going to get some kills on us,” Howard said. “I think she and Kate are going to neutralize each other a little bit, so you’d really think our other kids would step up and play, and we’d have advantages. But, yet again, it doesn’t happen that way.”
Those other players did step up for Hinen, and that’s why they were celebrating at the end of the match.
“I thought the rest of our kids really did their jobs,” she said. “Setting has not been a strong point for us this year, so we’ve really been working on that. And even though we had some mental lapses at times, the rest of the kids kind of brought (Goree and Hazen) along. Our back row players did a tremendous job of reading their hitters and reading their offense.”
Not to say Warsaw didn’t get their hits.
Led by junior Megan Chauncey’s 30 assists, Warsaw got 10 kills from junior Taylor Jagger and another nine out of junior Celia Heckert.
However, in a match as close as it was, and with senior outside hitter Laura Craig sidelined with an ankle injury, the errors proved to be the difference.
To get things back on track, Howard’s been mixing up his lineup, starting Poe, Voelz, Chauncey, Heckert, Jagger and senior Chandler Stevens Tuesday, with senior Marie West at libero.
Following the result, experimentation may continue when Plymouth comes to the Tiger Den Thursday night.
“We’re searching,” Howard said. “It doesn’t matter who we put out on the court at this moment. We can change setters, we can change middles, what we can’t change necessarily is outside hitters or maybe that is what we need to change. Unfortunately, we don’t have those kids right now. The ones we do have are young and inexperienced, plus we have one hurt. We have to go with the kids we have and it has to get better.”
Already in a tough spot at 1-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference, Thursday’s match will be a must-win for the Lady Tigers if they have any chance of repeating as NLC champs.
However, against rival Plymouth, which sits at 1-1 in the NLC, it won’t be a cakewalk.
“Everybody is decent on our schedule right now,” Howard said. “There are no walk overs. We’re Warsaw, so everybody gets ready to play us. We just need to be ready to step up to the challenge.”
Columbia City is the latest team to step up against Warsaw, and Hinen feels her team’s one-loss record means a little more with its latest victory.
“Warsaw’s always a really, really good ball club,” she said. “We talked about how we’re getting to where we need to be, to be competitive in our conference and in our sectional. Tonight was a real good indication of what we can do when we stick together, when we play together. We’ve been working on a lot of things and they all brought it tonight.”
COLUMBIA CITY DEF. WARSAW 25-21, 26-24, 25-21
Aces – Becca Tourney (CC) 2, Emily Poe (W) 2; Assists – Megan Chauncey (W) 30, Cassie Bosselman (CC) 13; Blocks – Gabrielle Hazen (CC) 4, Chandler Stevens (W) 2; Digs – Macie Hinen (CC) 27, Chauncey (W) 10, Poe (W) 8, Marie West (W) 8; Kills – Hazen (CC) 16, Kalisha Goree (CC) 10, Poe (W) 10, Taylor Jagger (W) 10, Katie Voelz (W) 9, Celia Heckert (W) 9
Records: CC 10-1, Warsaw 7-4[[In-content Ad]]
The Warsaw Lady Tigers’ (7-4) latest setback came Tuesday night at Columbia City (10-1), when they were unexpectedly swept, 25-21, 26-24, 25-21.
“We’ve won games (against Warsaw), but we haven’t won a match,” sixth-year Columbia City coach Trish Hinen said about getting her first victory over the Lady Tigers. “So to win in three is really big.”
Hinen may have been surprised by the result, but as for Howard, he’s becoming desensitized to the losses, as the latest sweep was Warsaw’s third such defeat of the year.
“Nothing about this season really surprises me anymore,” Howard said. “This wouldn’t be what we’ve come to expect, but this is a different team, this is a different time.”
What he has come to expect is unforced errors, with the most obvious one coming late in the third game when a ball was allowed to drop to the court following a miscommunication, giving the Lady Eagles a pivotal 23-21 lead.
“The only thing that is consistent at this point are our repeated errors,” Howard said. “We had 12 or 13 service errors tonight and at least 25 hitting errors. That’s been the one consistent theme throughout the entire season. We make error after error after error. Whether it’s handling free balls, whether it’s being in system. Then it’s getting the quality swing and hitting it out-of-bounds, into the block or into the net. Until those things are fixed, it is difficult for us to win.”
Also making it hard for Warsaw to win at Columbia City were two Division I players on the other side of the net.
Columbia City senior outside hitter Kalisha Goree will be playing at Ohio State next season, and she had 10 kills in the match, along with numerous digs.
“She just defended the court and was all over the place,” Howard said. “Then, she just made smart plays. It isn’t like they swung a bunch.”
When the Lady Eagles did swing, they were most successful when 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker Gabrielle Hazen was doing it.
The future Northwestern University product had a match-high four blocks and 16 kills, her last being a thunderous one to end the match.
Goree and Hazen helped to offset Warsaw’s strengths, which are all-Northern Lakes Conference players Emily Poe and Katie Voelz.
Matching Goree at outside hitter, Poe had 10 kills, eight digs and two aces, while Voelz had nine kills, playing the same position as Hazen.
“Gabby’s going to get some kills on us,” Howard said. “I think she and Kate are going to neutralize each other a little bit, so you’d really think our other kids would step up and play, and we’d have advantages. But, yet again, it doesn’t happen that way.”
Those other players did step up for Hinen, and that’s why they were celebrating at the end of the match.
“I thought the rest of our kids really did their jobs,” she said. “Setting has not been a strong point for us this year, so we’ve really been working on that. And even though we had some mental lapses at times, the rest of the kids kind of brought (Goree and Hazen) along. Our back row players did a tremendous job of reading their hitters and reading their offense.”
Not to say Warsaw didn’t get their hits.
Led by junior Megan Chauncey’s 30 assists, Warsaw got 10 kills from junior Taylor Jagger and another nine out of junior Celia Heckert.
However, in a match as close as it was, and with senior outside hitter Laura Craig sidelined with an ankle injury, the errors proved to be the difference.
To get things back on track, Howard’s been mixing up his lineup, starting Poe, Voelz, Chauncey, Heckert, Jagger and senior Chandler Stevens Tuesday, with senior Marie West at libero.
Following the result, experimentation may continue when Plymouth comes to the Tiger Den Thursday night.
“We’re searching,” Howard said. “It doesn’t matter who we put out on the court at this moment. We can change setters, we can change middles, what we can’t change necessarily is outside hitters or maybe that is what we need to change. Unfortunately, we don’t have those kids right now. The ones we do have are young and inexperienced, plus we have one hurt. We have to go with the kids we have and it has to get better.”
Already in a tough spot at 1-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference, Thursday’s match will be a must-win for the Lady Tigers if they have any chance of repeating as NLC champs.
However, against rival Plymouth, which sits at 1-1 in the NLC, it won’t be a cakewalk.
“Everybody is decent on our schedule right now,” Howard said. “There are no walk overs. We’re Warsaw, so everybody gets ready to play us. We just need to be ready to step up to the challenge.”
Columbia City is the latest team to step up against Warsaw, and Hinen feels her team’s one-loss record means a little more with its latest victory.
“Warsaw’s always a really, really good ball club,” she said. “We talked about how we’re getting to where we need to be, to be competitive in our conference and in our sectional. Tonight was a real good indication of what we can do when we stick together, when we play together. We’ve been working on a lot of things and they all brought it tonight.”
COLUMBIA CITY DEF. WARSAW 25-21, 26-24, 25-21
Aces – Becca Tourney (CC) 2, Emily Poe (W) 2; Assists – Megan Chauncey (W) 30, Cassie Bosselman (CC) 13; Blocks – Gabrielle Hazen (CC) 4, Chandler Stevens (W) 2; Digs – Macie Hinen (CC) 27, Chauncey (W) 10, Poe (W) 8, Marie West (W) 8; Kills – Hazen (CC) 16, Kalisha Goree (CC) 10, Poe (W) 10, Taylor Jagger (W) 10, Katie Voelz (W) 9, Celia Heckert (W) 9
Records: CC 10-1, Warsaw 7-4[[In-content Ad]]
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