GOSHEN - On paper, Warsaw Community High School's varsity volleball team was a heavy favorite over host Goshen in Thursday's first round of sectional play.
On the court, the Lady Tigers backed it up, wasting little time in beating the Lady Redskins 25-17, 25-8, 25-14 and improving their record to 29-4."We played Goshen earlier in the season, and I thought if we played well tonight we'd come out on the right end," said second-year Warsaw coach Mike Howard.
Goshen, which held an 8-3 advantage in the first game before Warsaw rattled off a string of points, finished its season with a 13-20 record.
"I'm sure every single Warsaw player believed that they were going to win that match going in," said Goshen coach Kera Maure. "Not every one of our players believed that we could win, and if we don't believe it, how can we do it? That's just where our program is. We've gotten better, but that's where we are."
With the win, the Lady Tigers advanced to Saturday's 11 a.m. sectional semifinal showdown with Class 4A No. 1 Elkhart Memorial. Concord and Elkhart Central will play at approximately 12:30 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Memorial defeated Northridge 25-12, 25-9, 25-16 in Thursday's second matchup and improved to 31-2 on the season.
"We know the road goes through Elkhart Memorial," said Howard, whose team lost 25-21, 25-23, 27-25 to the Lady Crimson Chargers at the Tiger Den on Aug. 27. "Elkhart Memorial is the measuring stick in the Northern Lakes Conference and the sectional. We played them in the first conference match and played three tough games with them. We felt like we did some good things against them and let them off the hook."
Warsaw's only conference loss came to Elkhart Memorial.
And the other three teams that have topped the Lady Tigers this season - Muncie Burris, Mishawaka Marian and Penn - are also ranked in their respective class' top 10.
In the first game of Thursday's match against Goshen, the Lady Tigers fell behind 8-3, but Warsaw had little trouble in coming back.
Warsaw was just the better team, and it showed in the second game, which the Lady Tigers easily won 25-8.
"We just had more firepower," said Howard. "We're able to put balls away from anywhere on the court. Goshen didn't have that. They've got some good players, our's are just bigger."
The net play of Warsaw's Sarah Shilling, Corinne Coon, Natalie Decker and Anne Holderman was just too much for Goshen.
The Lady Tigers were the taller team, and Warsaw was certainly able to stand tall.
"Everything that we worked on, we didn't do," said Maure. "We're short, but we still have to be able to get kills and we weren't."
Coon, Decker and Shilling led Warsaw with eight kills each, while Holderman had three.
Coon also led the team in aces with four and service points with 14.
Madison Long led Warsaw with 23 assists, while Kaitlin Reichard led the team in digs with 19 and Shilling was tops in blocks with four.
