SYRACUSE – The Wawasee volleyball team had its 2012 season begin like its 2011 season ended – with a loss to Tippecanoe Valley. Last October, the two squads went the distance, as Valley (1-0) advanced in Sectional 21 action with a five-set win (11-25, 25-13, 25-23, 17-25, 16-14) over Wawasee (0-1). Tuesday night, they started things off with another five-set match, once again won by Valley, 12-25, 22-25, 25-12, 25-18, 19-17. “They come into the gym ready to play us,” second-year Wawasee coach Jeff Phillips said. “It's a rivalry match. I don't think there's any question about that. We stood up a little bit better than we did in the sectional last year, just in terms of how we played all the way around, but we ended up with the same result.” Wawasee came out clicking, winning the opening set 25-12 then nabbing a 13-2 lead in the second. However, the Lady Warriors began to flutter in the second set, and despite winning it 25-22, the momentum seemed to have swung. Down 2-0 in the match, Valley jumped out to an 11-3 lead and went on to win the third (25-12) and the fourth (25-18), setting up the decisive fifth set. “A lot of it was just our nerves,” second-year Valley coach Abby Turner said about her team’s slow start. “We came out, we were tight, we were scared. The girls had the look of jitters all over their faces. They started to relax more in the third game, then in the fourth game we came alive and finished it in the fifth.” The fifth game proved to be the most competitive, and actually went extra time, as the winner of the fifth only has to get 15 points, but Valley ended up winning it 19-17 on a block by senior Kelsey Ball. Along with scoring the match-winning point, Ball finished with 10 digs, nine kills, five aces and four blocks. “She's one of our leaders and a captain,” Turner said about Ball. “She really stepped up and made some big plays. It wasn't always pretty, but somehow she got them to go in and that's what counts.” While Ball came up big, Valley’s biggest threat was sophomore Caylie Teel, who came up big at the school her mother, Lorene (Spearman) Teel, was a five-time Indiana state track champion. Teel matched Wawasee junior Lydia Katsaropoulos for kills in the match with 11, while also posting 20 digs and four aces. “She's one of our go-to players,” Turner said about Teel. “She struggled a little bit at our scrimmage, and I think she was a little down feeling like she wasn't having the kind of hitting she wanted. Tonight, her timing was better and she was just putting the ball away.” Wawasee’s timing was pretty good at the start, but gradually deteriorated. “We did all the things we needed to in Game 1,” Phillips said. “Then, we missed a few more serves, failed in some serve-receives in Game 2, but we were still able to pull it out. That progression happened a little more in Game 3 and more in Game 4. You get to Game 5 and it doesn't really matter who's playing good and who's playing bad. You get to Game 5 and it can go to anybody.” Along with Katsaropoulos leading the way in kills, she also had two aces, while sophomore Aly Anderson posted a match-high 25 digs and sophomore Alli Ousley had eight kills. Valley hosts Marion Monday, while Wawasee’s next match is against the always-tough Fairfield Lady Falcons Thursday. Taking on Fairfield on its home court, Phillips knows his girls will need to step their games up in order to avoid an 0-2 start to the season. “We have to come in with the same mentality that Valley came in with tonight,” he said. “I don't think Valley, with their youth, thought they were, probably, better than us. I think they came in thinking they were going to have to play really, really hard to win — and they did. They did everything they needed to do to win. That's how we're going to need to come out Thursday.”
