It was not hard for Jamie Byron and Dave McCracken to be looking ahead toward the future.

Tuesday's high school volleyball matchup between McCracken's Whitko Wildcats and Byron's Warsaw Tigers was, albeit just a glimpse, a possible sectional matchup come the end of the season.

For Byron, new to the volleyball scene in the area, it was a chance to see a team, any team, that could be a postseason opponent for the Tigers.

"I sure do like to see a possible sectional opponent," Byron said. "The only thing is that it makes them hungrier for us as well. But it is nice because I don't know anything about the sectional up here. This gives me a little sneak preview of what is going to be there."

For McCracken, the future could take on a whole new look as his Whitko team seems to go through changes every time out on the court. With four sophomores in the lineup and only one starter back from last year's sectional runner-up team, improvement is the name of the game each and every time out.

"Every game is an adventure right now because we are real young," McCracken said. "It was interesting watching the kids because they were tight at first, and then they loosened up a bit.

"We see improvement each game," he said. "We are looking from match to match. The kids are gaining experience and not making the same mistakes over and over."

Warsaw continued its domination over Whitko with the 15-7, 15-10 win in the home opener for the Tigers after spending the first six matches away to start the season.

"I knew we would have a good showing and wanted to give them their money's worth," Byron said. "It is always nice to come home after you have been away, especially after a tough tournament like Mishawaka."

With the score knotted at 3-3 in the first game, the Tigers rattled off 10 straight points, led by Sarah Calhoun, who had four kills in that stretch. Whitko made it interesting, cutting the lead to 14-7, but Jahna Swanson's ace closed the first game.

"I really think we came out focused in that first match, and we jumped right on top of them," Byron said. "Exactly how we wanted to."

Once again the score was tied at 3-3 in the second game when Warsaw went on a 6-0 run to take the 9-3 lead.

The Tigers didn't quite close the Wildcats out in the impressive fashion as in the first game as Whitko cut the margin to 10-8 before kills by Calhoun and two aces by Katie Clemens put the Wildcats to rest.

"We have to play through a lot of coaching during game time," McCracken said. "This is another learning experience. I thought they came out well for the second game. And they improved on their performance from Saturday.

"They all came away saying they played pretty well," he said. "If they keep improving until sectional, we will just see what our options are at sectional and see how they feel then."

Byron liked what she saw individually out of the Tigers, but putting together as a team might take some more time.

"Our communication in the second and possible third games needs to improve," Byron said. "We can't rely on just our fundamentals to get us by. We have to communicate with each other so we move as a team."

Calhoun led the Tigers with 10 kills while Lisa Estep added six kills, two blocks and two aces; Clemens had four kills and two aces while Swanson added three kills and four aces.

Whitko got five kills from Amber Landis.

Warsaw (5-2) tries to add to its 40-game Northern Lakes Conference win streak Thursday at Goshen. Whitko (3-3) is at Homestead Tuesday. [[In-content Ad]]