The Warsaw Community High School volleyball team’s night began by celebrating its eight seniors, but ended with an even bigger celebration following a five-game victory (25-20, 21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-8) over the Carroll Lady Chargers. Coming off losses to Class 2A No. 1 Providence and Penn, the Lady Tigers (23-7) were in search of a quality win, and they got it against a Carroll (25-6) team that’s won four-straight regional championships. “We lost our last two matches, so it is nice to go out and get a win against a quality team,” Warsaw coach Mike Howard said. “Carroll’s been to semistate the last several years, they’re a great team, a great program. So, it’s exciting for our seniors to get a win tonight.” Celebrating senior night can be a tricky one for a coach, who’s trying to get as many seniors in as possible, while also attempting to win the match. Against a young Carroll team, which starts a senior, a junior, three sophomores and a freshman, along with a junior libero, Howard was able to find the right mix. “It was great to get some of those girls in, that may not see a lot of court time, but work hard in practice,” he said. “Then, we needed some of those players again at the end of the match. For Ashlyn (Vitoux) to come in and play great, Delaney (Goble) came in served well for us when we needed some serves. It was great to see Taylor (Jagger) come in and have some success hitting the ball. It was a good night all-around for those girls that will be leaving us soon.” The top senior on the night was Emily Poe, who led the Lady Tigers with 14 kills and four aces, while also recording 13 digs. Poe, along with the rest of her teammates, knew they were going to be in for a fight from the start. After rallying from an 18-14 hole to win the opening game 25-20, Warsaw went on to lose the second (25-21) and third (25-18), setting up a must-win fourth game. “We let the second game get away, then you kind of get your confidence rattled a little bit and you don’t play well in the third game,” Howard said. “The same thing happened at Penn (Monday after Warsaw won the first game 25-16, but lost the second 25-22 in a four-game loss). We let the second game get away (at Penn), and a match we had under control got away from us. You started to kind of see the same things here tonight. Sometimes with this team, you don’t know what’s going to click.” Things weren’t looking too good in Game 4 either, as Carroll jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but the Lady Tigers chipped away until it took a 19-18 lead and eventually won 25-22. Tying the match up at two games each, the more-veteran Warsaw club dominated the fifth game, jumping in front 7-1 and never looking back in a 15-8 victory. Chauncey led Warsaw with 37 assists, sophomore Jordyn Lindeman had three blocks, all in the fifth game, and sophomore Peyton Adamiec posted a team-high 16 digs. For Carroll, sophomore Jacqueline Quade, who verbally committed to play at the University of Illinois this week, led the Lady Chargers with 12 kills and three blocks. Warsaw hosts its Spiker Invitational Saturday, before gearing up for Class 4A Sectional 4 at the Tiger Den next week. The sectional begins Oct. 24 with two matches, but Warsaw’s first action will be Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. against six-time defending champion Elkhart Memorial. Memorial and Warsaw have squared off in each of the past four sectionals, with the Lady Tigers having their season ended each time. This season, Memorial defeated Warsaw in four games (26-24, 10-25, 25-17, 25-18) Aug. 29 at the Tiger Den, but the Lady Tigers responded by defeating Memorial in two games (26-24, 25-19) at the Sept. 21 Michigan City Invitational. “It seems like we always find a way to play them, but that’s exciting for us,” Howard said. “We’re 1-1 with them this season. They beat us earlier, then we beat them later in the season. It’s good to have the rubber match to see who’s the better team this year.” If Warsaw does find a way to get past Memorial, it would likely face Elkhart Central or Northridge in the 7 p.m. championship match. Warsaw hasn’t faced Central this season, but did suffer a three-game sweep (25-18, 25-13, 25-17) at Northridge on Sept. 10. “You get Elkhart Memorial, then you have to beat either Northridge or Elkhart Central,” Howard said. “It’s two tough matches for anybody that’s going to win our sectional.”
