Warsaw’s used its power game to put together longer and more frequent scoring runs to take a 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 Northern Lakes Conference volleyball victory at the Tiger Den Thursday.
Wawasee hung with the Lady Tigers for a while in the first set, down just 17-15 before Warsaw scored the last eight points.
In the second set, Warsaw bolted to a 6-1 lead, and the Lady Warriors chipped away to close the deficit to three at 15-12. Warsaw then had runs of three, four and three points without Wawasee scoring on serve to take the set.
The final set followed a similar pattern, with Warsaw able to consistently pass its way to easy kills. After being down 12-7, Wawasee climbed back to within four points before Warsaw finished off the match.
Alexie Day paced the Lady Tigers with 11 kills, with Hannah Leach and Emma Gelbaugh adding nine and eight kills, respectively. By contrast, Wawasee’s leader in kills was Courtney Larson with three.
Kacy Bragg was able to set up most of the Lady Tigers kills, finding soft spots in the Wawasee defense time and again.
“I think Kacy is one of the better setters in the state,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Ashmore. “She does things that other people can’t do. She lets our offense run really well. When we give her a chance to be in the system, she’s as good of a weapon as there is.”
Warsaw celebrated Senior Night with Nikki Parrett playing for the one and only time this season. Between a knee injury and suffering from Vasovagal Syncope, she’s had some limited practice time but not played.
Ashmore felt like the last home match was the perfect opportunity for her to play, and Parrett responded by leading the Lady Tigers with 20 digs in the match.
“She was released to practice some time ago, but she takes things slower; probably slower than she’d like,” Ashmore said. “Yesterday she did a live practice and did really well with that, and I thought tonight she’d be ready to go. And I’m glad that on Senior Night she was able to get involved in the game.”
Wawasee coach Kayla Riportella said that while she was happy with the effort of her team, the Lady Warriors’ mental approach is still lacking.
“Honestly, I think my team is still struggling with pressure, in terms of knowing what’s at stake and being able to execute knowing the pressure’s there. I try to keep as much pressure off of them as possible, because I know that when it’s a win-or-lose scenario, we panic and that translates to hesitation on the court.
“We’ve been fighting that panic all season, and it’s slowly making its way off our court, but there’s still work to do.”
Wawasee will play in the Crown Point tournament on Saturday. Warsaw will host a tournament on Saturday.
