WARSAW – Welcome back Nikki Parrett.

The Warsaw volleyball star sure made some kind of shining return to the lineup Thursday night.

Parrett, who had not played in two weeks, was simply sensational as the host Tigers knocked off Elkhart Memorial 3-0 in first-round play of the Class 4-A Warsaw Sectional.

Parrett powered her team to a convincing 25-19, 25-19, 25-18 win over the defending sectional champion Crimson Chargers in the nightcap.

Warsaw, now 20-13, advances to face Concord (27-6) on Saturday in the semifinals. Concord defeated Goshen 25-10, 25-18, 25-10 in the first match Thursday night. Concord beat Warsaw 3-2 (25-11, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-8) back on Oct. 6 in the Tiger Den.

Elkhart Central (24-4), which beat No. 5 Penn 3-1 in the sectional opener Tuesday night, faces Northridge (21-12) at 11 a.m., Saturday followed by the Warsaw-Concord match. The winners face off at 7 p.m. Saturday for the sectional championship.  The sectional winner will then host the Plymouth Sectional winner in a regional contest on Tuesday night.

Warsaw will be shooting for two more wins on Saturday and the program’s first sectional crown since 2004.

Memorial, which had won sectional championships eight of the last nine years, finishes at 13-21 with losses in 10 of their final 12 matches against a tough schedule.

The Chargers, who had three seniors this year, went 28-10 a year ago and lost in the semistate semifinals. Memorial graduated seven seniors from that team and returned just one starter from it this season.

Parrett, who had last played in the Concord match and missed the final three matches of the regular season, looked like she had never been out. The junior outside hitter was a force and made an impact all night long.

Warsaw, which had been sidelined in sectional play by Memorial in six of the last seven seasons including last year in the semifinals of the Penn Sectional, came out on fire in taking control from the outset for their third win of the season over the Crimson Chargers. The Tigers won at Memorial 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20) back on Aug. 30 after beating the Chargers 25-10, 25-20 just three days earlier in a pool play match in the Mishawaka Invitational.

Warsaw, which never trailed in the match, simply had too much firepower at the net for Memorial. The hosts, who have switched to a 6-2 offense, got big swings all night from Parrett, Alexie Day, Kacy Bragg and Hanna Leach.

“Nikki makes us a complete team,” said first-year Warsaw coach Rick Ashmore. “Emotionally having her back brought us back up. She’s a gamer. She’s a kid who wants the ball and that’s a good thing to have.”

“We did a lot of positive things tonight. It was good that we took them in three. We did not have any letdowns tonight. We just kept going. That was important for us.

“I thought that both of our setters (Kacy Bragg and Addie Dickerhoff) did a great job moving the ball around. Addie stepped up. I thought that our defense played really well. We’re a traditionally strong serving team. Coach (assistant coach Chandra Hepler) does a great job with that and we did that well tonight too.

“We take the win and now we worry about Concord. This sectional is a barnburner. We just need to play as a team on Saturday. When we play as a team, we can do some good things. We just need to keep our communication up too.”

Warsaw set the tone from the start as Leach put down three service aces early. The Tigers took a 7-1 lead before Memorial took a timeout. The Chargers got back within 20-15 late in the opener before Erin Peugh delivered back-to-back aces for the hosts. Warsaw closed the first set win on a blast by Parrett.

The second set was much tighter as Memorial regrouped. The scored was tied at 5-5 before Warsaw inched ahead. The Tigers had a 15-14 lead before a pair of Memorial errors and a gorgeous tip kill by Parrett made it 18-14. Memorial, after a timeout, got within 19-17. The Tigers though got big hits from Parrett, Bragg and Day late to notch the win.

Warsaw got out to a quick 7-3 lead in the final set. The hosts made it 14-8 before a Memorial timeout. The Tigers got a big third set from Leach and got clutch hits late from Bragg and Day again to pull away. The hosts ended the victory in just 67 minutes on an ace from Day.

“They were better than us tonight,” said Memorial coach Jacquie Rost. “They had too many hitters who hit well tonight. They are a solid team.”

Rost has won 587 matches in her 22 seasons at Memorial and guided the Chargers to Class 4-A state runner-up finishes in both 2007 and 2009.

Ashmore, when asked following the match, declined to specify the reason for Parrett’s absence the last two weeks. A source though from outside the team did confirm that it was related to a health condition.

Day, a junior middle hitter, led Warsaw with 11 kills. Parrett slammed down 10 and sophomore Bragg and junior Leach each had eight and sophomore Katie Swanson three.

Leach led the outstanding serving effort with four aces, while Peugh had two and lone senior Brynn Durecki one. Bragg and sophomore Rachel Yeager each had one block. Sophomore Dickerhoff was outstanding with 23 assists, while smooth southpaw Bragg had 14.  Sophomore libero Peugh paced the defense with 25 digs. Dickerhoff had 12, while Bragg and Day each had 11. Durecki had eight, Leach three, Swanson two and Parrett one.

Senior Makennize Williams led Memorial with 10 kills. DeJanea Johnson had six and senior Lindsey Stahl five. Junior Brooke Troyer had eight digs and Williams and junior Morgan Gonsoski each had seven. Senior Krystal Grubb had 27 assists and Gonsoski and freshman Margaret Wiegand each had one ace. Junior Olivia Beathea had two blocks and Williams and Johnson each had one.