SYRACUSE — The Wawasee volleyball team avoided slipping into a losing funk Tuesday at home against Whitko. Celebrating Senior Night, and playing without its top offensive player, the Lady Warriors (12-14) ended a five-match losing skid with a four-game victory over the Whitko Lady Wildcats (3-16), 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23. The win was achieved without hard-hitting sophomore Lydia Katsaropoulos, who was seen on crutches and wearing an ankle brace. Katsaropoulos injured the ankle during her team's four-game loss at Warsaw Thursday. "We'd been working on our lineup for the Warsaw game for a month," Wawasee coach Jeff Phillips said. "We had the same players, everybody was getting used to it and we were almost comfortable, then we had an hour to work on our lineup going into the Homestead Tournament (Saturday). It was a lot of people looking around, saying, 'I'm not sure who's supposed to be the person to get the ball now.' Tonight, it was great to play the seniors, but we're also finding out who that person is going to be going through the rest of the season and into sectionals." Against Whitko, it was junior Anne Beer getting those swings at the net, posting 16 kills, getting set up routinely from senior setter Megan Conley, who finished with 33 assists. "It's obvious for Megan, that after Lydia went down, the next player she's most confident in is Anne," Phillips said. "Anne's done an amazing job. Coming out of preseason camp, she was the JV libero. A week before the season started, we said we needed another outside hitter. She hasn't left that spot, and Lydia going down has just shown, even more, how effective she can be as a hitter, even against big teams. Another player who's been coming on toward the end of the year has been freshman Alli Ousley, who had eight kills and joined Beer with 24 digs each. "We're going to need to find some people who can put the ball away, and Ousley and Beer are our options," Phillips said. "But, Sydney Miller is coming on a little bit, so hopefully we'll find that rotation that displays everyones' strengths." For Whitko, its go-to girl, senior Karissa Olinske, is at full strength, but she, like the rest of the team, is getting used to another varsity coach, as Brandy Smith is in her first season at the helm of the program. "My seniors have had three different varsity coaches in their four years," Smith said. "That's a huge consistency problem, but I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. So, we're starting to rebuild the program — again." Smith has taken the place of Doug West, who moved on to Plymouth after spending the previous two years at Whitko. Before West, Todd Volk was coaching the squad. "It's a huge consistency problem in terms of the coaching, then it reflects onto the girls, because they've had to change the way that they play three times," Smith said. Olinske finished the match with 12 kills and four aces, while junior Meghan Peters had 21 assists, senior Sammy Klerner finished with 17 digs and sophomore Taylor Zwick posted three blocks. Of her 12 kills, five of Olinske's came in the opening game, which led the Lady Wildcats to a 25-23 victory in a game that saw 13 ties and five lead changes. Instead of building on the momentum, the Lady Wildcats seemed perplexed with the serving of Wawasee freshman Aly Anderson in Game 2, as she served 11-straight points, building her team's lead up to 12-1. "It was definitely a loss of focus," Smith said about the slow start in Game 2. "They did have a couple good servers that could place the ball right in-between spots. They were smart servers. I will give them that, and we haven't played a lot of teams like that. So, one ball gets in their heads and they can't get back." Whitko actually did battle back to 23-22 before Wawasee finished it off, but the comeback wasn't something totally unexpected to Phillips. "We're not going to destroy anyone," he said. "Even with our No. 1 lineup, with nobody injured, it doesn't matter. We're still going to have to play people to 20 every time and scrap for the last five points. It's just more so now." The Lady Warriors get their next chance to gel with their new lineup Thursday at Class 4A No. 3 Elkhart Memorial, who currently holds a 74-match winning streak in Northern Lakes Conference action. "We have five matches left (in the regular season) and Memorial on Thursday, so it doesn't get any easier," Phillips said. Whitko's next match is Thursday at home against Fort Wayne Canterbury.
WAWASEE DEF. WHITKO 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 Assists — Megan Conley (Waw) 33, Meghan Peters (Whi) 21; Aces — Aly Anderson (Waw) 4, Karissa Olinske (Whi) 4, Gabi Routson (Waw) 3, Amanda Shepherd (Whi) 3; Kills — Anne Beer (Waw) 16, Olinske (Whi) 12, Alli Ousley (Waw) 8, Audra Day (Whi) 6; Blocks — Taylor Zwick (Whi) 3, Sydney Miller (Waw) 1.5; Digs — Ousley (Waw) 24, Beer (Waw) 24, Sammy Klerner (Whi) 17, Day (Whi) 13; Records: Wawasee 12-14, Whitko 3-16 JV — Wawasee def. Whitko 25-24, 25-20 JV Stats: Aces — Kasey Napier 3 (Waw), LeeAnn McGuire (Waw) 3, Jenny Brown (Whi) 2; Assists — Madi Anderson (Waw) 6, Elaine Warner (Whi) 6; Digs — McGuire (Waw) 19, Katy Ashpole (10), M. Anderson (Waw) 8, Brown (Whi) 5; Kills — Jordan Hall (Whi) 5, Napier (Waw) 4, Ashpole (Waw) 3, Paige Hlutke (Waw) 2; Records: Wawasee 6-6, Whitko 9-10
