Whitko Spikers Win Sectional Opener
October 19, 2016 at 4:04 p.m.
Whitko Spikers Win Sectional Opener
By Mark [email protected]
Whitko High School’s volleyball team looked a bit rusty after a fall-break related time between matches, but the Lady Wildcats played just well enough to sweep Fremont 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 in the opener and advance in the 2A Central Noble Sectional Tuesday night.
While always happy to take the win, Whitko head coach Mike Howard noted his team was not playing its best volleyball.
“We had some service errors throughout the match, and we struggled with a little bit of unclean play at the net from the end line,” he said. “We hadn’t had a match in about 10 days, and that’s a long time to go without a match.
“So I was expecting a little bit of rust, coming back from fall break, tired kids coming back from a four-day weekend, the first day back in school. But yeah, we can be cleaner, and we hope to be cleaner with a few days of practice.”
Fremont, winners just four times in the regular season, helped the Lady Wildcat cause considerably. Whitko won at least six points on long rallies with digs that kept the ball in play.
“We talked about ‘let’s make the other team make an error. Let’s play clean. We don’t have to have a kill, but let’s not give a point away.’ That’s something we struggle with from time to time,” Howard said.
After systematically pulling away in the first game, Whitko created space on the scoreboard in the second set when senior Haley Yohe had four consecutive aces, three of which were played by the Lady Eagles but never got close to the top of the net.
Yohe also had 36 assists, a total of six aces, and a block in Tuesday’s action.
“Haley Yohe came in and had a really nice service game, in all three games for us, really. She was the steadiest player for us tonight,” Howard said.
Senior Kaity Reed finished with 20 kills and 17 digs in the match, and Brianna Tackett had eight kills and a pair of aces. Kristina Slater had 24 digs.
The Lady Wildcats, now 23-10 on the season, move on to face LaVille (13-16) in Saturday’s first semifinal, with first serve at 11 a.m.
On the other side of the bracket, Westview (14-15) takes on Prairie Heights (17-10) and Bremen (11-20) plays host Central Noble (14-19) in quarterfinal play Thursday.
The two winners from Thursday face off in Saturday’s second semifinal at about 12:30 p.m. The sectional title match is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHITKO 3, FREMONT 0
W 25 25 25
F 18 18 21
Whitko statistical leaders: Assists – Haley Yohe 36; Aces – Haley Yohe 6, Brianna Tackett 2; Blocks – Haley Yohe 1; Lyndsey Sapp 1; Digs – Kristina Slater 24, Kaity Reed 17; Kills – Kaity Reed 20, Brianna Tackett 8.
Records: Whitko 23-10, Fremont 4-20
Whitko High School’s volleyball team looked a bit rusty after a fall-break related time between matches, but the Lady Wildcats played just well enough to sweep Fremont 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 in the opener and advance in the 2A Central Noble Sectional Tuesday night.
While always happy to take the win, Whitko head coach Mike Howard noted his team was not playing its best volleyball.
“We had some service errors throughout the match, and we struggled with a little bit of unclean play at the net from the end line,” he said. “We hadn’t had a match in about 10 days, and that’s a long time to go without a match.
“So I was expecting a little bit of rust, coming back from fall break, tired kids coming back from a four-day weekend, the first day back in school. But yeah, we can be cleaner, and we hope to be cleaner with a few days of practice.”
Fremont, winners just four times in the regular season, helped the Lady Wildcat cause considerably. Whitko won at least six points on long rallies with digs that kept the ball in play.
“We talked about ‘let’s make the other team make an error. Let’s play clean. We don’t have to have a kill, but let’s not give a point away.’ That’s something we struggle with from time to time,” Howard said.
After systematically pulling away in the first game, Whitko created space on the scoreboard in the second set when senior Haley Yohe had four consecutive aces, three of which were played by the Lady Eagles but never got close to the top of the net.
Yohe also had 36 assists, a total of six aces, and a block in Tuesday’s action.
“Haley Yohe came in and had a really nice service game, in all three games for us, really. She was the steadiest player for us tonight,” Howard said.
Senior Kaity Reed finished with 20 kills and 17 digs in the match, and Brianna Tackett had eight kills and a pair of aces. Kristina Slater had 24 digs.
The Lady Wildcats, now 23-10 on the season, move on to face LaVille (13-16) in Saturday’s first semifinal, with first serve at 11 a.m.
On the other side of the bracket, Westview (14-15) takes on Prairie Heights (17-10) and Bremen (11-20) plays host Central Noble (14-19) in quarterfinal play Thursday.
The two winners from Thursday face off in Saturday’s second semifinal at about 12:30 p.m. The sectional title match is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHITKO 3, FREMONT 0
W 25 25 25
F 18 18 21
Whitko statistical leaders: Assists – Haley Yohe 36; Aces – Haley Yohe 6, Brianna Tackett 2; Blocks – Haley Yohe 1; Lyndsey Sapp 1; Digs – Kristina Slater 24, Kaity Reed 17; Kills – Kaity Reed 20, Brianna Tackett 8.
Records: Whitko 23-10, Fremont 4-20
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