Lady Warriors Score Win Over Lakeland

August 22, 2017 at 4:03 p.m.


SYRACUSE – Just as a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a win helps a team begin to appreciate the hard work it puts in to get a victory.

While Wawasee’s three-set sweep of Lakeland in a non-conference volleyball match wasn’t stellar, it’s better than the alternative.

“A win is a win,” Lady Warrior coach Kayla Riportella said after her team’s 25-22, 25-22, 25-19 win at the Hardwood Tepee Monday evening.

Neither team could put together a rally of more than four points in the match, and as often as not, those short rallies ended with the serving team making a mistake, whether it was on the serve itself, a missed kill or being out of position.

Wawasee edged ahead just enough to win the first two sets at the wire, but Lakeland was stubborn in the third set as well. After an 11-all tie, Lady Warrior sophomore Elizabeth Kleopfer came up with back-to-back aces in a three-point rally.

Two possessions later, Hannah-Marie Lamle’s ace put Wawasee up 18-14. The teams traded short rallies until the Lady Warriors won five of the last six points to clinch the match.

It wasn’t as if Wawasee didn’t do some things well. Riportella just wants her team to do things well more often.

“Among the things we’ve been working on is staying consistent offensively and defensively,” she said. “And right now the one thing we struggle with offensively is keeping our serve. We also struggle defending the serve and being smart with the ball.

“Right now our big task is to keep minimizing our errors. This win was not the prettiest win in the book, but we’ll take it regardless. It proves to the girls that they are capable of winning.

“What we do from here is we take this win, we take what we need to work on and we perfect it. We minimize our errors, control the damage and play our game.”

Kleopfer had five aces, and Peyton Rookstool had six kills for Wawasee. Tiffany Koble had seven digs and Lamle had three blocks for the Lady Warriors.

Riportella said she feels the mistakes that cost Wawasee in losses to Tippecanoe Valley and Fairfield are as much mental as they are physical.

“I like to call it ‘the glass ceiling,’” she said. “Wawasee has this mentality about how far we can go, and we’re trying to break that glass ceiling, to pursue beyond that, to achieve more. Our biggest road block is ourselves and what we think we can do.”

In  the junior varsity match, Wawasee improved to 6-2 with a 25-15, 25-12 win. Kinzie Click had three aces and Ella Williamson six digs for the Lady Warriors.

Wawasee (1-2) is right back at it today, traveling to Albion for a match with Central Noble at 7:30 p.m.



WAWASEE 3, LAKELAND 0

L    22    22    19

W    25    25    25

Wawasee: Kills – Peyton Rookstool 6, Hannah Gaerte 3, Elizabeth Kleopfer 2, Hannah-Marie Lamle 2, Janae Hapler 1, Cassie Ponce 1; Aces – Kleopfer 5, Rookstool 3, Gaerte 3, Ella Williamson 2, Lamle 1; Digs – Tiffany Koble 7, Kleopfer 6, Rookstool 5, Gaerte 4, Brooke Heche 3, Isabelle Kloss 3, Ponce 2, Hapler 1, Lamle 1; Blocks – Lamle 3, Kleopfer 1, Ponce 1.

Record – Lakeland 1-6, Wawasee 1-2

JV ­– Wawasee def. Lakeland 25-15, 25-12.

SYRACUSE – Just as a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a win helps a team begin to appreciate the hard work it puts in to get a victory.

While Wawasee’s three-set sweep of Lakeland in a non-conference volleyball match wasn’t stellar, it’s better than the alternative.

“A win is a win,” Lady Warrior coach Kayla Riportella said after her team’s 25-22, 25-22, 25-19 win at the Hardwood Tepee Monday evening.

Neither team could put together a rally of more than four points in the match, and as often as not, those short rallies ended with the serving team making a mistake, whether it was on the serve itself, a missed kill or being out of position.

Wawasee edged ahead just enough to win the first two sets at the wire, but Lakeland was stubborn in the third set as well. After an 11-all tie, Lady Warrior sophomore Elizabeth Kleopfer came up with back-to-back aces in a three-point rally.

Two possessions later, Hannah-Marie Lamle’s ace put Wawasee up 18-14. The teams traded short rallies until the Lady Warriors won five of the last six points to clinch the match.

It wasn’t as if Wawasee didn’t do some things well. Riportella just wants her team to do things well more often.

“Among the things we’ve been working on is staying consistent offensively and defensively,” she said. “And right now the one thing we struggle with offensively is keeping our serve. We also struggle defending the serve and being smart with the ball.

“Right now our big task is to keep minimizing our errors. This win was not the prettiest win in the book, but we’ll take it regardless. It proves to the girls that they are capable of winning.

“What we do from here is we take this win, we take what we need to work on and we perfect it. We minimize our errors, control the damage and play our game.”

Kleopfer had five aces, and Peyton Rookstool had six kills for Wawasee. Tiffany Koble had seven digs and Lamle had three blocks for the Lady Warriors.

Riportella said she feels the mistakes that cost Wawasee in losses to Tippecanoe Valley and Fairfield are as much mental as they are physical.

“I like to call it ‘the glass ceiling,’” she said. “Wawasee has this mentality about how far we can go, and we’re trying to break that glass ceiling, to pursue beyond that, to achieve more. Our biggest road block is ourselves and what we think we can do.”

In  the junior varsity match, Wawasee improved to 6-2 with a 25-15, 25-12 win. Kinzie Click had three aces and Ella Williamson six digs for the Lady Warriors.

Wawasee (1-2) is right back at it today, traveling to Albion for a match with Central Noble at 7:30 p.m.



WAWASEE 3, LAKELAND 0

L    22    22    19

W    25    25    25

Wawasee: Kills – Peyton Rookstool 6, Hannah Gaerte 3, Elizabeth Kleopfer 2, Hannah-Marie Lamle 2, Janae Hapler 1, Cassie Ponce 1; Aces – Kleopfer 5, Rookstool 3, Gaerte 3, Ella Williamson 2, Lamle 1; Digs – Tiffany Koble 7, Kleopfer 6, Rookstool 5, Gaerte 4, Brooke Heche 3, Isabelle Kloss 3, Ponce 2, Hapler 1, Lamle 1; Blocks – Lamle 3, Kleopfer 1, Ponce 1.

Record – Lakeland 1-6, Wawasee 1-2

JV ­– Wawasee def. Lakeland 25-15, 25-12.
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