Memorial Ends Lady Tigers' Season Again
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Meeting in the semifinals of Class 4A Sectional 4 at Warsaw Saturday afternoon, Memorial defeated Warsaw in five games (25-22, 13-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-11), before going on to lose to Elkhart Central in the championship match (25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 25-15), Central’s first sectional title since 1973.
But before failing to win it’s seventh-straight sectional championship, Memorial ended the Lady Tigers’ season, a recurring story since 2009.
“I don’t necessarily dislike that program, because there’s a lot of respect there, but we certainly dislike losing to them,” Warsaw coach Mike Howard said. “We felt like we had the match in hand, but sort of let it slip away there in the fourth game.”
After winning a hard-fought third game, 26-24, the Lady Tigers celebrated a 2-1 match lead, its first sectional lead on Memorial since it led the Crimson Chargers 2-0 back in 2009.
However, experience prevailed for Memorial in the fourth game, which it won 25-19.
With the match coming down to a decisive fifth game, Memorial jumped out to a 7-3 lead before Warsaw reeled off five-straight points to go in front 8-7.
The two squads jostled back and forth, playing to an 11-11 tie, then Memorial sophomore Bailey Brouwer posted a kill, giving the Crimson Chargers the 12-11 advantage.
The ensuing point was the toughest of the match, as the ball went back and forth so many times before Memorial sophomore Darrian Mowery tipped the ball in for the point the team had to check with the official to find out which girl had served the point.
“Those long volleys, those are huge,” Memorial coach Jacquie Rost said. “If you can win those, it’s almost like winning two points, because it can just crush you (if you lose it).”
After winning that long volley, Memorial went on to win the next two, with Brouwer ending the match with her team-high 15th kill.
“I thought it was great volleyball,” Rost said. “I love playing Mike’s teams, because they are always intense and prepared. I think they’re incredibly well-coached. They take care of the ball. They always take care of the ball. They don’t make a bunch of silly hitting errors, they keep the ball in play and it challenges us every time.”
In the regular season, Memorial defeated Warsaw in four games on Aug. 29 at the Tiger Den, but on Sept. 21, Warsaw bested Memorial in two games at the Michigan City Invitational.
In the rubber match, Memorial showed that consistency is key, and it’s something Howard’s been looking for all season.
“We lacked consistent play (this year),” he said. “We were either spectacular or struggling. We’d have one outside hitter play well, but the other would struggle. One middle would get going, the other wouldn’t be ready. We’d swing good from the inside, bad from the outside. We had a lot of feast or famine.”
In their final match for Warsaw, senior Emily Poe and junior Taylor Jagger were both feasting from the outside.
Jagger, who will graduate a year early, played her best match of the year, recording a match-high 19 kills and Poe recorded 18 of her own to go with 16 digs.
“Taylor stepped up – big time,” Howard said. “It was great to see her step up. She had 19 kills, hit .300. She had a great, great match.”
Along with losing Jagger and Poe, Laura Craig will also be graduating in the spring and had 19 digs and eight kills in the sectional loss.
In all, Warsaw graduates nine girls, including four starters from Saturday’s match, but does return some key pieces, including junior Katie Voelz, who had seven kills, four blocks and three aces.
“We bring back a great nucleus with setters, such as (freshman) Cassie (Hoag) and (junior) Megan (Chauncey),” Howard said. “We also have our middles (Voelz and sophomore Jordyn Lindeman) back and libero (sophomore Peyton Adamiec) back.”
While he does bring back talent next year, he just wishes he could have had at least one more match with his seniors, but it just didn’t happen.
“I thought we competed,” he said. “We just struggled to execute and make key plays at the end.”
ELKHART MEMORIAL DEF. WARSAW 25-22, 13-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-11
(Class 4A Sectional 4, Semifinal)
Aces – Megan Chauncey (W) 4, Victoria Mills (M) 3, Claire Welter (M) 2, Katie Voelz (W) 2; Assists – Chauncey (W) 53, Mills (M) 40; Blocks – Tailor Schultheis (M) 4.5, Voelz (W) 4, Chauncey (W) 3, Jordyn Lindeman (W) 3, Mills (M) 2; Digs – Welter (M) 30, Jill Brown (M) 22, Laura Craig (W) 19, Mills (M) 16, Emily Poe (W) 16, Peyton Adamiec (W) 15, Kaylin Szucs (M) 10; Kills – Taylor Jagger (W) 19, Poe (W)18, Bailey Brouwer (M) 15, Darrian Mowery (M) 11, Chelsea Bettis (M) 10, Craig (W) 8, Schultheis (M) 7, Voelz (W) 7
Records: Memorial 23-11, Warsaw 25-8[[In-content Ad]]
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Meeting in the semifinals of Class 4A Sectional 4 at Warsaw Saturday afternoon, Memorial defeated Warsaw in five games (25-22, 13-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-11), before going on to lose to Elkhart Central in the championship match (25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 25-15), Central’s first sectional title since 1973.
But before failing to win it’s seventh-straight sectional championship, Memorial ended the Lady Tigers’ season, a recurring story since 2009.
“I don’t necessarily dislike that program, because there’s a lot of respect there, but we certainly dislike losing to them,” Warsaw coach Mike Howard said. “We felt like we had the match in hand, but sort of let it slip away there in the fourth game.”
After winning a hard-fought third game, 26-24, the Lady Tigers celebrated a 2-1 match lead, its first sectional lead on Memorial since it led the Crimson Chargers 2-0 back in 2009.
However, experience prevailed for Memorial in the fourth game, which it won 25-19.
With the match coming down to a decisive fifth game, Memorial jumped out to a 7-3 lead before Warsaw reeled off five-straight points to go in front 8-7.
The two squads jostled back and forth, playing to an 11-11 tie, then Memorial sophomore Bailey Brouwer posted a kill, giving the Crimson Chargers the 12-11 advantage.
The ensuing point was the toughest of the match, as the ball went back and forth so many times before Memorial sophomore Darrian Mowery tipped the ball in for the point the team had to check with the official to find out which girl had served the point.
“Those long volleys, those are huge,” Memorial coach Jacquie Rost said. “If you can win those, it’s almost like winning two points, because it can just crush you (if you lose it).”
After winning that long volley, Memorial went on to win the next two, with Brouwer ending the match with her team-high 15th kill.
“I thought it was great volleyball,” Rost said. “I love playing Mike’s teams, because they are always intense and prepared. I think they’re incredibly well-coached. They take care of the ball. They always take care of the ball. They don’t make a bunch of silly hitting errors, they keep the ball in play and it challenges us every time.”
In the regular season, Memorial defeated Warsaw in four games on Aug. 29 at the Tiger Den, but on Sept. 21, Warsaw bested Memorial in two games at the Michigan City Invitational.
In the rubber match, Memorial showed that consistency is key, and it’s something Howard’s been looking for all season.
“We lacked consistent play (this year),” he said. “We were either spectacular or struggling. We’d have one outside hitter play well, but the other would struggle. One middle would get going, the other wouldn’t be ready. We’d swing good from the inside, bad from the outside. We had a lot of feast or famine.”
In their final match for Warsaw, senior Emily Poe and junior Taylor Jagger were both feasting from the outside.
Jagger, who will graduate a year early, played her best match of the year, recording a match-high 19 kills and Poe recorded 18 of her own to go with 16 digs.
“Taylor stepped up – big time,” Howard said. “It was great to see her step up. She had 19 kills, hit .300. She had a great, great match.”
Along with losing Jagger and Poe, Laura Craig will also be graduating in the spring and had 19 digs and eight kills in the sectional loss.
In all, Warsaw graduates nine girls, including four starters from Saturday’s match, but does return some key pieces, including junior Katie Voelz, who had seven kills, four blocks and three aces.
“We bring back a great nucleus with setters, such as (freshman) Cassie (Hoag) and (junior) Megan (Chauncey),” Howard said. “We also have our middles (Voelz and sophomore Jordyn Lindeman) back and libero (sophomore Peyton Adamiec) back.”
While he does bring back talent next year, he just wishes he could have had at least one more match with his seniors, but it just didn’t happen.
“I thought we competed,” he said. “We just struggled to execute and make key plays at the end.”
ELKHART MEMORIAL DEF. WARSAW 25-22, 13-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-11
(Class 4A Sectional 4, Semifinal)
Aces – Megan Chauncey (W) 4, Victoria Mills (M) 3, Claire Welter (M) 2, Katie Voelz (W) 2; Assists – Chauncey (W) 53, Mills (M) 40; Blocks – Tailor Schultheis (M) 4.5, Voelz (W) 4, Chauncey (W) 3, Jordyn Lindeman (W) 3, Mills (M) 2; Digs – Welter (M) 30, Jill Brown (M) 22, Laura Craig (W) 19, Mills (M) 16, Emily Poe (W) 16, Peyton Adamiec (W) 15, Kaylin Szucs (M) 10; Kills – Taylor Jagger (W) 19, Poe (W)18, Bailey Brouwer (M) 15, Darrian Mowery (M) 11, Chelsea Bettis (M) 10, Craig (W) 8, Schultheis (M) 7, Voelz (W) 7
Records: Memorial 23-11, Warsaw 25-8[[In-content Ad]]
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