When teams from Warsaw and Wawasee meet, the atmosphere, if nothing else, is charged.

The rivals squared off for a Northern Lakes Conference volleyball matchup Thursday in Warsaw. After two toughly contested matches, the Tigers came out on top 15-7, 16-14.

The second game of the match went down to the wire as Warsaw came back from a three-point deficit to win the match 16-14. Wawasee jumped out to an early 7-4 lead after Candice Brown served three straight points. But the Tigers chipped away at that lead and eventually tied the game at nine and then took a 10-9 lead when Kyla Stanley served two points.

Andrea Saldivar helped the Tigers build a 12-9 lead, but the Warriors refused to give in. Gennie Brissette served three Warrior points to tie the score at 12.

Warsaw then went up 14-12 on Amie Poling serves. Again, the Warriors rallied to tie the score at 14.

Then Warsaw's Lindsay Woods stepped to the service line and led the Tigers to two points, the game and the match.

In the first game, Wawasee jumped to the early lead, 1-0. That would be the only lead the Warriors would hold in the game as Warsaw's Kara Kesler served up two points to give the Tigers a 2-1 advantage.

A scoring draught ensued when eight possession changes sent the ball to opposite sides of the net several times.

Wawasee tied the score at four after Angie Beer led Wawasee to two straight points. The Tigers and Warriors then traded points and the score was knotted at five.

However, that was as close as the Warriors got as Woods, Stanley and Laura Overton combined for five unanswered points.

Erica Auker served up two more points for the Warriors to bring their total to seven, but Warsaw scored the last five points of the game to earn a 15-7 win.

"I am happy with the way we played," said Wawasee coach Jason Fleming. "We executed the offense well. We served aggressively, something we have been working on in practice, and we performed well.

"If you have to lose a match, this is the kind of match you want to learn. We lost, but we played good volleyball."

"This is the second game we have played hard and as a team," said Warsaw coach Itanya Coon. "The other one was against (Fort Wayne) Snider. This is our best win by far.

"All six of our players played well on the court tonight. They really stepped up when they needed to, every single one of them out there led us to this win."

Warsaw improves to 10-9 overall and 2-2 in the NLC. The Tigers host the Warsaw Invitational Saturday. Wawasee is now 10-12 and 0-4 in the NLC.

WARSAW DEF. WAWASEE 15-7, 16-14

Warsaw stats

Aces -ÊKara Kesler 3, Kyla Stanley 3, Amie Poling 2

Kills - Nerecia Taylor 10, Lindsay Woods 7, Kristen DeGeeter 7

Blocks - Kesler 9, Woods 5, Poling 4, DeGeeter 4

Assists - Poling 24

Digs - DeGeeter 7, Kesler 6, Andrea Saldivar 5

Wawasee stats

Digs - Candice Brown 10, Jen Mason 7, Kathy Likens 7

Blocks - Shanna Zolman 2

Aces - Brown 2, Gennie Brissette 2

Kills - Angie Beer 9, Zolman 9, Emily Cline 5

Assists -ÊBrown 22

Records - Warsaw 10-9 overall, 2-2 NLC;

Wawasee 10-12 overall, 0-4 NLC [[In-content Ad]]