Two of the top fifteen volleyball teams in the state met at Twin Lakes High School Saturday night, as Crown Point and Warsaw battled for a 4A regional title. The match was exhilarating and tight throughout. The two teams traded sets and needed the maximum of five, with the Lady Bulldogs emerging victorious and moving to the semi-state round with a 3-2 win.
“I am so proud of these girls. The way that they played with heart and grit, they represented Warsaw better than I could ever ask them to,” Warsaw head coach Chandra Hepler said after the game. “I have no regrets about how that game went. We came three points short of a regional title and it was a game that could have gone either way.”
The start wasn’t the one that Warsaw wanted. After the Lady Tigers began the scoring with a kill by Maddie Branam, the Lady Bulldogs responded with the first punch of the match. Scoring the next five points to take an early lead, Warsaw was forced to call its first timeout just six points into the match.
Crown Point held onto the momentum following the break, scoring its points in bunches while the Lady Tigers were only able to add one at a time. The lead continued to grow, but wasn’t insurmountable just yet.
Unforced errors weren’t helping the cause. A lack of communication led to two or three players trying to play the ball at once, leaving a ton of open space on the court for it to fall to. Quite a few kills were sailing just a bit long and out of bounds. On the other side, the Lady Bulldogs were playing perfectly, executing everything they wanted to and reaping the benefits for it. Warsaw was forced to call its second timeout of the set now trailing 17-8.
“Nine of our girls had never competed in a sectional, let alone a regional, so some jitters were definitely there. Crown Point came in with a great game plan and were able to neutralize us early,” Hepler said. “Eventually we were able to settle in, and once we proved we belonged, we got it going.”
The Lady Tigers were finally able to get some momentum to go their way thanks to their front line. A string of three blocks in a row made things just a little bit closer at 20-12, as well as forced Crown Point to have to call for a break of their own.
Warsaw continued to chip away at the deficit, as back-to-back kills by Maggie Hollon shrank it to seven. The comeback would fall short, as the Lady Bulldogs took the first set 25-16, but the Lady Tigers looked much better as the opening game went on. Heading into the second set, Warsaw had now figured out some weaknesses to take advantage of. The set was the first one the Lady Tigers had dropped this postseason.
The team enjoyed a much better start to the second set, taking an early 4-2 advantage with libero Ellie Hepler serving. That lead continued to grow, doubling to 8-4. The jitters had worn off, and the Lady Tigers were now playing a much cleaner game. An ace by Lexy Whittenberger was the final straw for Crown Point coach Alison Duncan, as she was the one calling the first timeout of set two trailing 11-5.
The breather didn’t do much in terms of immediate help, as the home team on the scoreboard remained on top and was able to prevent the visitors from chipping away too much. That wouldn’t remain the case for long though, as eventually, Crown Point was able to figure some things out to make it a three-point game with Warsaw up 15-12.
The Lady Bulldogs were able to trim it as low as one shortly after, but the Lady Tigers responded with two straight points to go back up by three. Things stayed close as the two sides inched closer to the 25-point threshold, but another big block by the Warsaw front line put them up four at 20-16 and resulted in the second timeout of the match for Crown Point.
That proved to be enough, as the Lady Tigers were able to hold off one last Lady Bulldog rush to tie things up at 1-1 with a 25-21 win in the second set on a kill by senior Allison Chapman.
After two sets where one team was able to assert its dominance in the opening points, the third game was a different story. Things were fairly even to start off as the two sides traded points throughout the opening stage. In this crucial set, neither team was able to take a lead larger than one until Crown Point did so at 8-6. It didn’t last long though, as Warsaw tied things up not long after and took their own lead at 10-8.
As the game wore on, and the two teams continued to familiarize themselves with one another, it showed in every point. Rallies got longer and longer. Bodies were hitting the hardwood as digs got more and more important. Leads continued to change hands, with each team seizing momentum in rapid succession. The first timeout was finally called by Warsaw with the Lady Bulldogs up 13-10.
“When I say the players left it all on the court, they really did. Those rallies were so long and it was so hot in the gym,” Hepler said. “Both teams were so exhausted, even when we huddled up to celebrate a point it wasn’t what it usually is. Each point was such a battle.”

    Warsaw senior Leila Knepp leaps for a kill during Saturday's regional championship match against Crown Point...Nieter

The lead grew to five soon after the breather, leaving the home team needing something fast. Now trailing by six, Coach Hepler called for her second break as a last ditch effort to try and rally her troops.
It seemed to work, as it led to a run that saw the deficit get cut to three. It also led to a timeout for the Lady Bulldogs as the visitors tried to regroup and finish things off.
That’s exactly what happened. The Lady Tigers were able to hang around as the set wrapped up, but Crown Point was able to do just enough to come away with a 25-20 victory to come within a game of the semi-state round. Warsaw now needed two wins in a row to stay alive.
Looking to put an end to things, the Lady Bulldogs came out firing to begin set four, taking an early 6-3 lead that resulted in an early timeout call by Warsaw. It didn’t do much to stop the bleeding, as Crown Point was soon up by five and continuing to surge.
With their season on the line, the Lady Tigers were able to put together a rally of their own, getting within one at 11-10. Soon after, back-to-back aces by CeCe Goode tied things up at 12 and gave Warsaw its first lead of the game at 13-12. The visitors had an answer though, tying things up at 14.
Once again, the home team punched back, scoring four straight points and forcing the Lady Bulldogs to use their second timeout of the game. Momentum shifted on a dime once again though, as Crown Point battled to within one at 19-18.
When it looked as if the Lady Bulldogs were going to stage another comeback, a massive dig by Hollon saved the day and led to a huge point for Warsaw. The Lady Tigers were able to ride that wave and win the fourth set 24-22 to tie things up once more and force a winner-take-all fifth set for the regional championship.
“This game was the epitome of a postseason, regional championship. That’s the great thing about high school sports that can’t be matched,” Coach Hepler said. “The fans, the pom poms, the packed gyms. Those are the moments I remember as a player and that’s something these girls will remember forever too.”
With a fast start crucial in the abbreviated set, it was Warsaw that began by scoring the first few points. The visitors answered as they had all game long, tying things up at three. Crown Point kept it going and was able to open up a 6-4 advantage, but the Lady Tigers quickly tied things up.
As was the case in the beginning of the third set, separation was hard to come by here. The two sides continued trading points as 15 grew nearer. With things tied at nine all, it was the Lady Bulldogs that finally took control, scoring three straight points to get within three of victory. Crown Point was able to stay in front here, and Warsaw called its final timeout trailing 14-11, needing to score three straight points to stay alive.
They’d get one, but Crown Point was able to finish things off, securing one final kill to win the regional with a 15-12 win in set five. “In all of the years I’ve been coaching, there’s always a moment in a tough game where you can look at the players and realize we’re not going to win this,” Hepler said. “But in this game, I never saw that once. They believed in themselves until that last ball hit the ground.”
Warsaw will return next season, looking to win its fourth straight conference title and sectional, as well as look to claim its first regional title since 1996.
“ I look at my juniors who have never lost a conference game or a sectional game, and they’ve raised the bar so high in such a short time. Obviously our seniors leaving are going to create a big void,” Hepler said. “As the bar is raised, so is the pressure. But we will reload, and we have to see who is going to fill those holes for us.”