In the world of high school sports, fewer words hold more weight than conference champions.
For the second year in a row and third time in four years, the Warsaw volleyball team gets to use those two magical words to refer to themselves after a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-21) victory over NorthWood on Thursday night. With the win, the Lady Tigers clinched at least a share of the Northern Lakes Conference title.
“Pride is the first word that comes to mind. These girls have dealt with all kinds of adversity this season,” head coach Chandra Hepler said. “I think our true colors have come out over the past few weeks. Our leaders have really stepped up and the rest of the girls have followed suit.”
Thursday night’s conference-clinching win was yet another example of Warsaw coming together as a team and putting together a lights-out performance. Four different players, Maggie Hollon (11), Krista Lauck (13), Melaina Hawblitzel (14) and Leah Henderson (19) finished with double digit kills.
“Leah was phenomenal in that game. That’s probably the best game I’ve ever seen her play,” Hepler said. “We had her matched up with Claire Payne, NorthWood’s best front court player, and she gave her everything she had. I was blown away by her performance.”
Hawblitzel, who made her return in this game after missing some time with an ankle injury, was also excellent defending the attack as well, finishing second to only Ellie Hepler (25) on the team in digs with 20. Hollon and Avery Hoppner also finished in double digits. Hoeppner dished out 51 assists as the team’s main setter.
“First and foremost, this was a perfect display of our culture. This team feels like one big family from the varsity team all the way down to elementary,” Hepler said. “These girls are selfless. If one of them is not having the best game they become the next girl’s biggest cheerleader. We have so many weapons, not just one or two players to carry us.”
The Lady Tigers are not done yet. On Sunday night, the team will find out who they will begin their postseason run against as the IHSAA volleyball sectional draw is announced. Warsaw does have one more regular season game remaining, a road contest at Concord next Thursday. A win in the regular season finale will clinch the conference championship outright.
“We are not looking past Concord, we want to be outright NLC champs. We may see them again in sectionals,” Hepler said. “We have a lot of confidence going into the playoffs. We’ve already beaten teams in our sectional like Penn and Elkhart and that can give you some confidence and a sense of security. I feel like we’re playing our best ball right now and we’re ready to get another notch on our belt.”