Warriors Come Up Short In Regular Season Finale
MIDDLEBURY – The regular season has come to a close and sectional tournaments are now upon the IHSAA volleyball community.
The Lady Warriors finished their season on Thursday with an Northern Lakes Conference contest against a talented Northridge squad. After a slow start, Wawasee gave the Raiders quite a contest but would come up short, losing in three games 25-14, 25-23, 25-20.
Wawasee, who has struggled as of late, played a much better on Thursday night that in part to the return of setter Alli Ousley. The junior has been out with a concussion for two weeks and returned to the floor in a big way. Ousley led her team with 19 assists, two aces and 1.5 blocks as well as adding five kills and seven digs in her return.
Ousley’s presence was missed in the past few games and Wawasee head coach Jeff Phillips talked about what she brings to the table for his team.
“She is an all-around volleyball player,” Phillips said. “When her serve is on, it’s effective. She plays good defense. She gets us kills as a setter, which is huge to get us out from under runs by the other team. She does a lot of things besides setting, but her setting changes how we play on offense. This was a good game to get her back for because you cannot simulate this scenario in practice.”
The success from Ousley in her return coupled with great play from the rest of the team helped Wawasee push Northridge to the brink in the last two games of Thursday’s match.
After a forgettable first game, Wawasee jumped out to a 10-2 lead over the Raiders at the beginning of the second game. But despite the great start the ladies watched the eight-point lead turn into a 14-10 deficit and eventually a loss.
The third game provided more drama with Wawasee losing another early lead and having a late comeback derailed by a controversial call from a line judge. Lydia Katsaropoulos seemingly ended a volley with a thunderous kill to cut Northridge’s lead to 19-18. However, the Raiders continued to play after the ball appeared to bounce off of the floor and would end up getting a point to take a 20-17 lead, putting Wawasee on the wrong end of a two-point swing. The head official checked with the line judge after the play and the result of the play stood. Wawasee would lose the set and the match.
But the match against Northridge, while winnable, was ultimately about seeing where the Lady Warriors were mentally and physically going into next Thursday’s sectional against a powerful Fairfield squad.
“Other than game one, we played well,” Phillips said. “Game one we didn’t serve or receive well but games two and three, we had a chance to win. I would have loved to have seen that call go our way because instead of it being 20-17 with them still serving, it would have been 19-18 and us serving. Other than that, there was nothing to really be sad or upset about tonight.
“Northridge has a very similar attack to Fairfield’s. They (Northridge) have a great setter, probably the best in the NLC. Playing against a setter like that means we have to run fast and, ultimately, we saw an offense that compares pretty favorably to Fairfield’s and a team that compares to Fairfield defensively and with serving. Tonight was a good final match. Did we want to win? Of course, but if we were not going to win then this is what you want to see going into sectionals.”
Wawasee (15-16, 0-7 NLC) was swept by Fairfield in Syracuse on August 22 and also fell to the Falcons in last year’s sectional championship game. The game will start at 6 p.m. at West Noble High School in Ligonier.
The Wawasee JV lost 13-25, 11-25 to the Northridge JV. Becca Anderson had four kills and Seaquinn Bright had seven digs for the Lady Warriors.