Winners of seven straight coming into Tuesday night’s home game against Northridge at the Tiger Den, the Warsaw volleyball team continued to take care of business in conference play, remaining unbeaten (3-0) in the Northern Lakes Conference with a 3-0 victory over the Lady Raiders. The Lady Tigers have now won 17 straight conference games.
“When I was a player here, we never lost a conference game. So when I was hired as coach, I wanted to keep that same standard that Warsaw is the hunted, not the hunters,” Warsaw head coach Chandra Hepler said after the match. “I feel like we’re clicking right now. I’m really proud of the girls that have set the standard and that we’re able to keep it going.”
The win was also the 100th of Hepler’s stint at Warsaw, her alma mater.
“It’s really special. When I think about the last five years here I think about all the girls I’ve had and it’s a testament to their hard work,” she said. “It’s not always easy playing for me but these girls have bought in and have made me incredibly proud. To achieve this, it feels really good.”
After giving up the first point of the match, the Lady Tigers were able to respond well, scoring the next six with big kills by freshman Madison Branam and senior Maggie Hollon as well as an ace by CeCe Goode. Even though the visitors were able to score once more to stop the bleeding, it only did so temporarily, as Warsaw got right back to business.
Hollon continued to lead the home side’s offense as the Lady Tigers continued to stack up the points. The Lady Raiders were able to get it going themselves around the midway point of the set, stringing some points together to shrink the Warsaw lead down to just one at 10-9. Not long afterwards, things were tied at eleven all.
Northridge was unable to hop in front though, as the Lady Tigers got back on track with a run of their own to remain on top. An ace for Ellie Hepler got the lead back up to 16-12 and caused the Lady Raiders to call the first timeout of the game.
The home side kept things rolling after the break, with another ace by the Indiana commit getting the lead up to six. A pair of back-to-back kills by Hollon made it eight. The run was just what Warsaw needed, as the rest of the set was never in question as the Lady Tigers cruised the rest of the way to take the opener 25-16 on a kill by Goode.

    Freshman standout Madison Branam lights up for a block of the kill attempt by Northridge's Myah Miller...Nieter

The momentum gained by the home team in the latter half of the first set carried over into the second game, as Warsaw scored the first 13 points of the set to take a commanding early lead. Everybody was getting involved here, with Hepler putting together some fantastic digs while Hollon and Branam kept the offense going with some earth-shattering kills. Goode had three aces, including two in a row, serving as the lead kept on growing and growing. Eventually, she’d put one into the net to finally put Northridge on the board.
“Our serving was aggressive and we did not let up. We talk about getting 1% better every day to give us the chance to go on runs like that,” Hepler said. “I tell my girls to step on throats all the time and that’s exactly what they did.”
The points for the visitors were few and far between though, as Warsaw continued dominating the second set. Freshman Reagan Edwards got in on the fun with a kill that made it 17-3. An ace by Lexy Whittenberger made it 21-4. Finally, a serve out of bounds by the Lady Raiders finished things off, giving Warsaw a 25-7 win in set two to give the team a 2-0 lead in the match.
Goode’s serving continued to be a storyline early in set three, as another occurrence of back-to-back aces, followed by two more monster kills by Hollon gave the team an early 6-2 lead. The lead continued to grow as Warsaw showed absolutely no signs of slowing down.
Northirdge called timeout down 11-4, but it didn’t do much for them. Branam put together three straight aces following the break as the Lady Tiger lead reached double digits. The Lady Raiders were able to cut into it some, but not nearly enough to make a serious dent. The home team continued to dominate the match all the way to the final point, which was fittingly a kill by Branam to give the team a 25-12 set three victory, as well as a 3-0 match win.
Hollon had 19 kills in the win. Goode compiled eight aces. Hepler had nine digs while Branam had four blocks.
Warsaw (11-4, 3-0 NLC) plays its next match Saturday at the Slicer Invitational in LaPorte.
“We love this tournament because it gives us a chance to see some teams out west that we usually wouldn’t see unless it’s in the playoffs, so having that experience now will better prepare us for that,” Hepler said.