SYRACUSE - The Wawasee Warriors volleyball team began Tuesday night celebrating Senior Night, and the good times lasted throughout its match against Whitko.
After recognizing seniors Ali Herdrich, Ashley Flores, Terra Weisser, Adrienne Drook and Susie Hershberger, Wawasee (17-11) didn't have too many reasons to take the smiles off their faces, defeating the Whitko Wildcats (5-15) in three games, 25-11, 25-14, 25-18."We were hoping for a great match, and try to take it," Whitko coach Doug West said. "We didn't come to play tonight, and (Wawasee) certainly did."
Fresh off a third-place finish at Saturday's Homestead Invitational, Wawasee coach Amy Miller sees her team gaining confidence, and that was certainly apparent against Whitko.
"This weekend, we had a really good tournament," Miller said. "It's one of the toughest tournaments we play in, and the girls really had confidence. It's a really good time to get that going."
And dominating a fellow Sectional 21 opponent can only reinforce that confidence in the Warriors.
"Whitko's really turned things around," Miller said. "They took us to three (sets in a best-of-three) tournament we hosted (on Sept. 19)."
The biggest problem for Whitko was limiting Wawasee runs.
After going in front 4-0 in the opening game, Wawasee responded with a 16-2 run. In the second game, the two teams were tied at 12-12 before a 9-0 Warriors run put the home team comfortably in front at 21-12. Finally, in the third game, Whitko was within 13-11 before a 9-1 run put them away.
"They served extremely well," West said about Wawasee. "We had trouble passing all three games. We needed to have some players step up in terms of getting digs. When you're out of system, when balls are hit hard at you, you can't play good floor defense and kind of change momentum. We weren't passing well, nor were we playing good floor defense. It was frustrating that way."
From Miller's vantage point, her team's success was based on staying on an even-keel and not losing its composure.
"We're more about consistency and eliminating mental errors," she said. "We didn't have many attack errors, serve errors or ball-handling errors."
On the night, Weisser didn't have many errors at all, posting an astounding seven blocks, while junior Molly Studer was just as impressive with nine aces to go with her nine digs.
Herdrich also had a good night, leading Wawasee with 11 digs and nine kills, with junior Andi Banghart posting 21 assists.
For Whitko, junior Danielle Rose finished with a match-high 13 digs, while sophomore Karissa Olinske had three aces, senior Courtney Carver had seven kills and senior Amber Blankenship had 14 assists.
The Warriors return to Northern Lakes Conference action Thursday, hitting the road to face the Class 4A, second-ranked Elkhart Memorial Crimson Chargers. Whitko is also back on the court Thursday, hosting Fort Wayne Canterbury.
