Wawasee High School's varsity volleyball team etched closer with each game, but could never get over the hump at rival Warsaw Thursday.
In a Northern Lakes Conference match at the Tiger Den, the Warsaw Lady Tigers posted a 25-13, 25-21, 25-23 victory over the Lady Warriors (13-10, 1-3 NLC), claiming their 12th-straight win and improving to 18-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.After breezing to the Game 1 victory, the Tigers found it a little harder to record kills and cover the court defensively in the final two games.
"We were a little bit timid at first, as far as hitting, going after them and digging stuff up," Wawasee coach Amy Miller said. "Once we got the hang of it, we played with them. We scrapped."
The scrappiest among the Warriors was junior Molly Studer, who finished with a match-high 19 digs.
"(Warsaw) had to work a little bit harder, and they had to move the ball around," Miller said of her defense.
Despite the Lady Warriors' improved defense, the Lady Tigers still found a way to win the final two games, even if it was by smaller margins.
Leading the way to those wins was the offensive attack of seniors Sarah Shilling and Corinne Coon, as well as juniors Natalie Decker and Anne Holderman.
"We have three players that lead us offensively, usually," Warsaw coach Mike Howard said. "It's pretty balanced between Sarah Shilling, Natalie Decker and Corinne Coon - and Anne Holderman did a nice job tonight."
Shilling led the offensive attack against Wawasee, posting 10 kills, followed by Decker's seven and Holderman's six.
Setting up most of those kills was junior Madison Long, who not only finished the match with 24 assists, but also had 12 digs, two aces and a block.
The Lady Tigers' defense was led by Coon's 14 digs, while senior Kaitlin Reichard had 13 of her own.
On top of his regulars getting their numbers, Howard also rotated young players into the action, including sophomores Andi Frazzetta and Kaylee Shull.
"We're confident that everyone we put in can perform," Howard said.
"It's a conference match, so you know it's going to be a battle," he added. "You want to get them in there and get them tested. We like to do those things."
The less-experienced players did hold their own, even with Wawasee picking up its intensity as the match went along.
In the loss, senior Ali Herdrich led Wawasee with seven kills, while senior Ashley Flores led the way with four blocks and junior Andi Banghart finished with a match-high three aces and a team-high 13 assists.
"I was proud of them, because this is the best we've played (Warsaw) in a while," Miller said. "(Warsaw) is a tough team. Really tough."
Both teams will take part in tournaments Saturday, as Warsaw hosts its own at 10 a.m. and Wawasee will be at Homestead for a 9 a.m. start.
During those tournaments, each coach will be looking for improvement as the sectional creeps up.
"We've got a little bit further to go," Miller said. "Cleaning up the ball-handling errors - those kind of things. Just the stuff that shouldn't happen. If we clean that up, and get our mental game back up where it should be, I'm pretty excited about sectionals."
And despite holding a 12-game winning streak, as well only losing to Class 4A second-ranked Elkhart Memorial and Class 3A fourth-ranked Mishawaka Marian, Howard still sees plenty of room for improvement.
"There's still a lot of work to do," he said. "We're always trying to improve and get better."
