AKRON - Despite valiant efforts from the Wawasee and Whitko volleyball teams, both fell in Class 3A Sectional 20 action at Tippecanoe Valley High School Thursday.
Having lost to West Noble 3-1 on Oct. 5, the Lady Warriors played one of their best matches of the season Thursday, but still came up short against the Chargers in four games (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21).In the second match of the night, Whitko had fallen to Columbia City twice during the regular season and fell for a third time in the sectional, 25-14, 20-25, 25-11, 25-22.
West Noble and Columbia City move on to Saturday's semifinals, playing after the 11 a.m. match between Tippecanoe Valley and NorthWood.
West Noble 3, Wawasee 1
Despite losing to West Noble (15-18) two weeks ago, the Wawasee Lady Warriors (10-23) entered the sectional at full strength with freshman Lydia Katsaropoulos and junior Haley Hawkins.
"There were a couple girls we had not seen yet, so we weren't sure what to expect," West Noble coach Danielle Powell said. "I just told the girls to go out and play solid defense and challenge every ball."
Hawkins missed the previous West Noble game after being in a car accident and Katsaropoulos missed much of the season with an ankle sprain.
With the girls in the lineup, the Warriors came out fast, winning the opening game 25-16.
The momentum failed to carry over into the second game, as the Chargers looked re-energized and took a 10-1 lead.
"We just got off to a slow start," Wawasee coach Amy Miller said.
After the slow start, Wawasee chipped away at the lead and actually held a 22-20 lead late in the game before succumbing 25-23.
"We just made mistakes when we shouldn't have made mistakes," Miller said. "Had too many girls hitting into the net, hitting out of bounds. At this time of year, we can't miss and we missed."
West Noble also had peculiar mistakes for this time of the year, as the ball dropped between girls on three separate occasions during the match.
"The girls know once a play is over, it's over," Powell said. "We have to move on to the next one and let that error go."
Over the course of its next two game wins, West Noble exhibited an ability to finish strong.
Down 17-15 in Game 3, West Noble used a 7-0 run to gain control, then in Game 4, the Chargers overcame a 16-12 deficit with an 8-1 run to win the final game.
"We really try to battle back as best we can," Powell said. "We play point-for-point and continue to battle. When we can get big runs like that, our focus can be shifted to keeping that momentum and doing the little things."
Helping the Chargers get the win were sophomores Chelsea Riser and Haley Richardson. Riser finished the match with nine kills and four blocks, while the 6-foot-2 Richardson had six blocks.
Going against the taller Chargers, Miller needed a strong effort from her front line and she got it.
Junior Amanda Cantu had seven blocks, while Hawkins had four.
"I really needed her in the middle," Miller said about having Hawkins back in the lineup. "I thought she did a good job. When it came to swinging on the outside on serve-receive, Haley got it done."
Katsaropoulos also had a nice match in her return, finishing with three aces, five kills and 14 digs.
"She brings the power, but not necessarily the consistency I need, because she hasn't been here," Miller said about the freshman.
Cantu, Hawkins and Katsaropoulos will be back next year, but for Andi Banghart, Aly Walbridge and Molly Studer, the match was their final one.
"I thought they were really strong," an emotional Miller said about her seniors. "They're a great group of girls."
Banghart had 13 assists, three aces, four kills and six digs in her final match, Studer had 19 digs and Walbridge finished with eight kills.
WEST NOBLE DEF. WAWASEE 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21
Having lost to Columbia City (13-9) in a regular dual match and at the Wawasee Tournament this year, Whitko (5-23) appeared to be overmatched, but didn't play that way.
"Sectional time brings out the best in everybody," Columbia City coach Trish Hinen said. "We've already beaten them twice this year, so we knew they'd come out to get us."
The Wildcats did come out strong, but fell in the first 25-14.
In the second game, Whitko nabbed a 25-20 victory, but things fell apart in the third, losing 25-11.
"That game does show they had some better ball control and some determined defense," Whitko coach Doug West said. "They hit well at the net and were in system."
Despite getting blown out in the third, Whitko came back to take a 17-14 lead in the fourth. Down the stretch, the score got tied at 22-22, but Columbia City racked off the next three points to take the match.
"It's 22-all in the fourth and we couldn't get into system on those three points," West said. "You never want to analyze a match on the last three points. There's a lot of things that led up to that."
Columbia City's strengths were senior Paige Moore and freshman Kalisha Goree. Moore finished the match with nine kills and five blocks, while the 5-foot-5 Goree had 12 kills, two aces and 21 digs.
Whitko was led by senior Rachelle Kessie and junior Karissa Olinske, who had 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Kessie also had four blocks and Olinske had 21 digs.
"We worked on bringing in two blockers against (Kessie), because she is their go-to person - her and Olinske," Hinen said. "We've seen them a couple times and what we needed to do to shut them down and frustrate them."
Whitko sophomore Meghan Peters led the team with 33 assists and senior Stephanie Camden led the way with 33 digs.
"It's very disappointing not to break through and win this match and be playing in the semifinals," West said.
Instead of playing in the semifinals, West was saying goodbye to Kessie, Camden, Danielle Rose and Lindsey Hardesty.
"We've got four great seniors who will be hard to replace," he said. "They are all hard workers, dedicated to the sport and are good leaders on the court."
COLUMBIA CITY DEF. WHITKO 25-14, 20-25, 25-11, 25-22
