SYRACUSE - The Warsaw Community High School volleyball team just had too much size for the Wawasee Lady Warriors Thursday in Syracuse.
Recording 42 kills in the three-game (25-13, 25-15, 25-15) Northern Lakes Conference win, the Lady Tigers improved their record to 16-3 overall and 4-1 in the NLC."Size played an important part in the match," Warsaw coach Mike Howard said. "If we ran our stuff and kept the ball in system, there wasn't really a lot they could do about it. They were going to dig some balls, because they're a scrappy team. But if we did what we were supposed to do, the match should have been in our favor."
It definitely was in the Lady Tigers' favor, with senior Natalie Decker leading the way with 12 kills, followed by senior Emily Umbaugh's 11 and senior Madison Long's five.
"Our defense is what we were going to need to use," Wawasee coach Amy Miller said about her 10-12 (1-3 NLC) team. "All we could do was go at them, go at them and try to play their game. It's just hard to get around them."
Indeed, that size at the net also benefitted the Tigers, as Decker also posted three blocks and Long had two.
"I had a few girls get some good kills, but overall, we're just not as strong in the front as we need to be," Miller said.
Miller did get seven kills from senior Aly Walbridge, while junior Haley Hawkins had four blocks and senior Andi Banghart posted three.
At times, Wawasee was able to keep up with Warsaw, but the home team just couldn't manage the Lady Tigers' long scoring runs. On the night, Warsaw had six runs of at least seven-straight points.
"It's just one thing after another - errors building on each other," Miller said.
When the Lady Warriors were most successful, their serves were leading the way. Junior Megan Conley had two aces, but also did a good job of keeping Warsaw off-balance when serving.
"They had a couple good service runs," Howard said. "Particularly in the second game, they had two four-point service runs, where we did not receive serves very well."
The Lady Tigers will now get set to host its Tiger Invitational Saturday, where Class 3A No. 5 Bellmont, Class 2A No. 1 Muncie Burris and Class 2A No. 6 Southwood will participate.
"We have a lot of good volleyball coming up," Howard said.
Wawasee will also be in action Saturday, taking part in the Homestead Tournament.
On top of playing an NLC opponent Thursday, the Warsaw squad was also raising breast cancer awareness.
Sophomore Jamie Lacheta's mother, Cheryl Lacheta, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the past month. To honor her, the girls were wearing pink wristbands around their biceps, with the initials 'CL' on them.
High school volleyball also has a campaign where "Dig Pink" matches are played, where those in attendance are encouraged to wear pink.
The girls' match at Plymouth on Sept. 16 was a "Dig Pink" match, as will be the Oct. 16 match against Fort Wayne Bishop Luers at the University of St. Francis.
"That's a unique opportunity for us to go and acknowledge (breast cancer awareness), and it hits home for us now with a player whose my mom is facing it," Howard said about the match at St. Francis.
WARSAW DEF. WAWASEE 25-13, 25-15, 25-15
Kills - Natalie Decker (War) 12, Emily Umbaugh (War) 11, Aly Walbridge (Waw) 7, Madison Long (War) 5; Assists - Long (War) 22, Andi Banghart (Waw) 10, Megan Conley (Waw) 5; Digs - Alex Sanchez (War) 13, Long (War) 11, Annie Holderman (War) 10, Molly Studer (Waw) 10, Anne Beer (Waw) 9; Blocks - Haley Hawkins (Waw) 4, Decker (War) 3, Banghart (Waw) 3, Long (War) 2, Aces - Sarah Johnson (War) 2, Conley (Waw) 2; Records: Warsaw 16-3 (4-1 NLC), Wawasee 10-12 (1-3 NLC)
