Steady Tigers Roll Right Along
DUNLAP – Mike Howard wasn’t worried about seeing the spectacular from his team Thursday night.
The Warsaw volleyball coach was more interested in good, steady play.
He got his wish.
The Tigers continued their recent roll by crushing host Concord 3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference finale.
Warsaw, with production from a plethora of players, started strong and finished fast in posting a 25-10, 25-15, 25-23 victory.
The Tigers improve to 19-5 overall and finish the NLC season at 5-2.
Warsaw has picked the perfect time to play its’ best volleyball of the season. Howard’s team, which will host the sectional in less than two weeks, has won 13 of its’ last 15 matches.
The Tigers have found a groove since going to a 6-2 offense with setters Megan Chauncey, a junior, and freshman Cassie Hoag each running the offense.
“We’ve found something that works for us and we’re playing better and much more consistent now,” said Howard, whose team struggled early on this fall. “Our lineup is more stable now and I hope it’s building confidence with the girls with our play. It should be.
“We’ve been working on things a lot in practice and breaking the game down into smaller piece and I think that’s helped us. We had some really tough practices for a couple of weeks and I think that got us tougher.”
The Tigers were plenty tough Thursday night.
Warsaw dominated Concord, one of the six teams that will play in the Class 4-A Warsaw Sectional. Sophomore Jordyn Lindeman was a force early on for the Tigers.
“I thought Jordyn played really well tonight,” Howard said. “She gave us a huge lift.”
“Momentum is so key in this sport that you don’t want to lose it once you have it. Tonight was all about our level of play. I wanted us to be really steady and patient tonight and we were. I wanted to see five good plays in a row, not one spectacular one and then four bad ones.”
The Tigers made sure of the shutout by controlling the net with their blocking late in the third set. With the final game tied at 18-18, Lindeman teamed with Laura Craig and Celia Heckert on two key blocks to spark a 3-0 run to make it 21-18. Lindeman then had a huge service ace, followed by a kill from Ashlyn Vitoux and a beautiful roll shot by Poe for the final point.
