Warsaw Volleyball: Tigers Second In Own Tourney
WARSAW – It had to feel good for the Warsaw volleyball team to get to play on its homecourt Saturday.
The Tigers, who had hosted just two home matches prior to its own invitational, took advantage of the opportunity too.
Warsaw navigated its way through pool play unbeaten before finishing as runner-up in the eight-team event with a loss to LaPorte in the championship match.
The Slicers defeated the host Tigers 25-23, 25-17 in the title match to earn the championship.
LaPorte improves to 18-5 overall after going 4-0 on Saturday with pool play wins over Class 2-A No. 5 Rochester, Fort Wayne Snider and Fort Wayne Luers. The Slicers won all four of their matches by 2-0 finals.
Coach Rick Ashmore’s young, but talented Tiger team beat Class 2-A No. 9 Muncie Burris 32-34, 25-18, 15-13 in a nail biter to begin pool play. Warsaw then topped Fort Wayne North Side 25-9, 25-9 and Southwood 25-19, 25-19 to move into the finale.
Juniors Nikki Parrett and Alexie Day continued to power the offense for Warsaw. Parrett celebrated her 17th birthday on Saturday in style as she totaled 34 kills on the day and Day finished with 28. Junior Hanna Leach had 19, sophomore Rachel Yeager nine, sophomore Kacy Bragg seven and sophomore Katie Swanson four.
Sophomore libero Erin Peugh was outstanding all day long for the Tigers. She finished with 52 digs in the four matches. Bryan Durecki, the lone senior for the Tigers, had 35 digs, while Day had 24, Bragg 19 and Parrett 15.
Bragg piled up a total of 94 assists in the four matches. Peugh had four and junior Alicia Sikora three. Peugh led the serving parade with eight aces. Parrett had four aces, while Day and Bragg each had two and Durecki one.
Leach was big at the net defensively for the hosts with 16 blocks. Swanson had eight, while Yeager and Bragg each had seven. Day finished with six blocks, Parrett three and sophomore Cassadi Colbert two.
Peugh was honored as the MVP of Warsaw’s pool and both Bragg and Parrett were selected to the All-Tournament team.
The day also featured a classy gesture on the part of all of the teams involved. The players all wore teal ribbons in their hair during the tournament to honor former Southwood player Emilie Harnish. The 17 year old Harnish was killed in a tragic car accident on October 29 of last year while on her way to a volleyball match. Teal was Harnish’s favorite color.
Warsaw is now 16-10 on the season. The Tigers, who are 4-1 in Northern Lakes Conference play, will host league foe NorthWood on Thursday night in the Tiger Den with the freshman and junior varsity matches starting at 5:30 p.m.
The Tigers will play the remainder of their regular-season schedule at home as they host NorthWood and Concord (Oct. 6) to wrap up NLC play before hosting Class 4-A No 9 Penn on Oct. 11.
Warsaw will then host its own Warsaw Spiker Invitational on Oct. 15 before serving as host for the Class 4-A Sectional the week of Oct. 17-22. The sectional field will include the Tigers, along with Penn, Elkhart Memorial, Concord, Goshen and Elkhart Central.