NORTH MANCHESTER - The Manchester and Whitko volleyball teams squared off on Aug. 27, but Thursday's contest had Three Rivers Conference implications.
Because the two teams meet twice this year, Manchester's previous four-game victory at South Whitley didn't count toward its TRC record, but Thursday's 25-13, 25-16, 25-13 win in North Manchester did."We played better tonight than we have in the past week-and-a-half," Manchester Squires coach Sarah Lochner said. "We talked better tonight, we blocked better tonight - which is big for us. Our mental attitude, tonight, was just better."
Manchester (6-10, 1-1 TRC) wasted no time getting off to a fast start, getting up 10-3 on Whitko (3-7, 1-2 TRC) in the opening game, en route to a dominating 25-13 first-game victory.
"Manchester served well the entire match," Whitko Wildcats coach Doug West said. "They served well, they kept the pressure on us. We were sporadic - off and on. One of the main things was they had consistent serving. We had trouble handling their serve."
Manchester senior Tara Gnagy was Whitko's biggest problem, serving up four aces, posting 12 kills and recording 11 digs.
"Tara played a really nice match," Lochner said of Gnagy. "She served well for us, and she's very smart when it comes to attacking against blockers. She knows how to use the blockers to her advantage. Whitko does have two decent-sized blockers (with junior Rachelle Kessie and senior Courtney Carver), and she did well tonight."
Lochner also credited the play of junior Sheridan Wilcox and senior Nicole Binkley with helping Gnagy, as the two finished with four and three kills, respectively, while each had two blocks.
"They're starting to be more offensive and that's benefiting our outside hitters a lot," Lochner said.
Whitko did get good play out of Kessie who finished with seven kills and five blocks, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Squires.
"The girls are doing a lot of nice things," West said. "We just need to be a little bit quicker on transition and have a little bit better ball handling, to get the ball into system more."
And West's system seems to be making changes at Whitko, even if the record isn't reflecting as many wins as Wildcat fans may like.
"Coach West has just done an amazing job with their program," Lochner said. "Their program is completely different than it was a year ago."
