Wawasee Swept By Redskins
GOSHEN – The Wawasee volleyball team has had a lot to boast about so far in 2014. But the Warriors had arguably their worst night on the court to date when they traveled to the Maple City on Thursday.
For the first time this season, Wawasee was swept by an opponent. The Warriors never seemed to get a rhythm going and it would cost them as Goshen would defend its home court winning 25-14, 25-19 and 25-23.
“There wasn’t anything that I could point to tonight that was good enough from us,” said Wawasee head coach Jeff Phillips. “Normally we do something good enough that we can lean on to carry us through a game or match. Serve receive, attack and defense, usually we do one of those things good enough, tonight I couldn’t point to one of those things.”
Wawasee managed to take at least a 1-0 lead in every game, but mental errors and poor support from the outside hitters really took a toll on the Warriors throughout the match.
Wawasee found itself in a back-and-forth contest with Goshen in the first game of the evening. Both teams were tied at six before a string of bad plays put the Warriors on the outside looking in. Wawasee found itself with opportunities in game two, but Goshen was able to hold off any late push from the Warriors. The same could be said for the third game as Goshen held off another late rally by Wawasee to complete the sweep.
There were positives throughout the night from Wawasee, however. The Warriors avoided long stretches of poor play, the only exception being in the first game. Wawasee was able to correct a few of its mistakes and capitalize on some of Goshen’s blunders. Ultimately, the Redskins just did a better job at capitalizing on Wawasee’s mistakes and that is what the Warriors have to focus on moving forward.
“I haven’t seen the stats yet, but I imagine that our serve receive was as low as it’s been all season,” Phillips said. “You just have to have some of the good if you’re going to have some of the bad and we didn’t get any of the good tonight.
“One of the good things that I did see tonight was that we have girls stepping up. You have to find the positives and tonight I saw people stepping up and that may change our lineup moving forward.”
Aly Anderson led the Warriors with 20 digs while Meghan Fretz and Addison Ayres were tops for Wawasee with seven kills each. Alli Ousley added three kills and led the team with 18 assists.
Wawasee’s next stop will be Bourbon as the Warriors compete in the Triton Invitational. Wawasee is now 0-2 in Northern Lakes Conference play and 6-6 overall.
Wawasee was swept 2-0 in the junior varsity contest as well, 25-22, 25-17. Kabrea Rostochak had five kills and two blocks for Wawasee while Skylar Janda had four aces, 10 digs and four kills for the Warriors.