WARSAW – The Penn volleyball team checked in at No. 5 in the latest Class 4-A statewide coaches poll.

Time will tell, starting with postseason play next week, but the Kingsmen may not be ranked high enough.

Powerful Penn put on a display worthy of one of the state’s top teams in rolling past host Warsaw 3-0 Tuesday night.

The Kingsmen topped the Tigers 25-14, 25-9, 25-14 in a non-conference matchup.

Penn, which will play in the seven-team Class 4-A Warsaw Sectional starting Oct. 18, sent a clear message as to who the tournament favorite is heading into postseason play.

The Kingsmen, who lost to Elkhart Memorial in the sectional final at Penn in 2015, improve to 26-2 overall. Penn’s two losses this season have been to Class 4-A No. 2 Avon and Class 4-A No. 12 Valparaiso.

The youthful Tigers, who fall to 17-13, just had no answers from the get-go versus the Kingsmen.

Just how dominant was coach Sarah Hendrick’s team.

Warsaw led just once in the 66-minute match, taking a 1-0 lead to open the second set.

“They outplayed us in every phase of the game tonight,” said first-year Warsaw coach Rick Ashmore of the Kingsmen. “They came in ready to go and we were not ready to play. We have a week to get it ready for the sectional.”

Penn set the tone from the first serves as the guests took a 3-0 lead. Ashmore burned both of his first set timeouts early with his team down 4-1 and 8-4 to try and stem the tide.

It did not matter on this night.

The Kingsmen trailed for the only time at 1-0 in the second set before ripping off the next seven points. Once again, Ashmore took both his timeouts early to try and slow the Kingsmen momentum.

Once again, it did not work.

Penn, which won back-to-back Class 4-A state championships in 2010 and 2011, never let off the gas in this one. The Kingsmen rolled to a 10-1 lead to open the third and final set and never looked back.

Ashmore, who has coached and trained many of the Penn players at his Dunes Volleyball Club in Rolling Prairie, pointed to experience as factor in the outcome.

“Our youth showed tonight,” noted Ashmore. “Penn has more experience with their kids playing in national tournaments on the club level. I thought that we played scared. We have to learn to be ready to go from the start.

“Like I said, we have a week to figure it out before the sectional. We have to be ready to play every single point in the sectional.

“The girls have to believe in each other. I’m confident in them and I believe in them.”

The Tigers were shorthanded as fine outside hitter Nikki Parrett was out. The junior was on the Warsaw bench in street clothes and Ashmore noted that he hopes to have her back on the floor for the sectional.

The two highlights of the evening came before the match. The Tigers honored lone senior Brynn Durecki on Senior Night. The program also saluted loyal fan Fred Nieter, presenting him with a team T-shirt autographed by the entire team. Nieter has been a longtime supporter of the program, as well as many of the other Warsaw athletic teams.

Junior Alexie Day led the Tigers with eight kills. Sophomore Cassadi Colbert had four and junior Hanna Leach and Kacy Bragg each finished with two. Sophomore setter Bragg had 16 assists and one ace. Sophomore libero Erin Peugh led the defense with 18 digs. Durecki had 12, Day nine, Bragg five, Leach three and Colbert and Rachel Yeager one each.

Sophomore Maria Schwindaman led the balanced Penn offense with 10 kills. Junior Italia Fields had nine kills and Jennifer Heritz, one of two seniors, had seven. Junior libero Rachel Hickey had 13 digs and three aces, junior Julia Beers 11 digs and junior setter Naomi Willis 32 assists.

The Warsaw varsity will host its own tournament Saturday starting at 9 a.m. Penn will host New Prairie Thursday night. The Tigers will face Elkhart Memorial on Oct, 20 at approximately 8 p.m.in the sectional. Penn will play Elkhart Central in the sectional opener at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18.

The news was not all bad for the home team Tuesday night. The Warsaw junior varsity beat Penn 25-21, 22-25, 15-9. McKenna Hawblitzel had six kills, while Emma Gelbaugh and Courtney Chookie each had four and Addie Dickerhoff, Gwyn Bellamy and Emali Grose two each. Dickerhoff led the team with two aces. Dickerhoff and Hawblitzel each had one block. Dickerhoff had 12 assists and Alicia Sikora five. Dickerhoff also had 16 digs, while Gabby Hamill had 11, Amy Herendeen five and Chookie four.

The Warsaw JV team, coached by Chandra Hepler, is 22-3 and will play in the JV NLC Tournament on Saturday at Elkhart Memorial starting at 9 a.m.

The Warsaw freshman team ended its season by defeating Penn 25-21, 25-22. The frosh Tigers, coached by James Schmidt, went 29-0 versus freshmen teams and 32-1 overall.

Brooklyn Slone and Reagan Roulo each had six kills in the win over Penn. Sierra Derossett had five kills and Kaia Hummitch and Sophia Long each had four. Derossett led the team with two aces. The trio of Long, Hummitch and Derossett each had two blocks. Katie Schmidt had 25 assists. Kylie Prater had 15 digs, while Allie Mcguire had 12, Slone 10, Derossett seven and Roulo four.