SOUTH WHITLEY – The Whitko volleyball team held its 3rd Annual “Pink Out” game for breast cancer awareness Tuesday night when Wawasee came to town. Both teams donned pink jerseys for the cause and fans were encouraged to participate in raffle and other contests throughout the night.

Yes, the “Pink Out” was a success and to make the night even better for the Wildcats, they knocked out the visiting Lady Warriors. It was not easy, but Whitko claimed a 3-1 win over Wawasee to pick up it’s ninth win of the season.

Whitko came out of the locker room full of energy and passion while Wawasee seemed to be a little sluggish. The Wildcats took advantage of the lack of energy from the Warriors and claimed game one 25-18.

The few and the proud. The members of the Whitko student section were scarce, but still in full throat Tuesday night.

Wawasee really didn’t seem to wake up until late in the second game, but the Wildcats never lost a step. Whitko fell behind in the game and even found itself in a 24-22. Once the Wildcats got the ball back, then down 24-23, senior Tressa Keim served three-straight points to secure victory number two for her squad.

“Tressa (Keim) just did that for us the other night,” said Whitko head coach Brandy Smith. “She served four-straight points for us on game point to get us a win the other night. It’s great to be able to count on her. She has had an up and down year so I was very proud of her to step up and do that for us again tonight.”

Keim was prime against Wawasee as she recorded 23 digs, six kills and served one ace.

Wawasee finally got with the program in game three, playing the toughest it had all night. The Warriors survived a couple of long volleys and were able to keep their mistakes to a minimum and pull out a 27-25 victory. Unfortunately for Wawasee, that

Wawasee’s bench goes wild after getting a big point in game three. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

would be the only win it could get Tuesday.

Game four showed just how tired each team had become as there was a total of eight serve errors in that game alone. On the night there was a total of 23 serve errors, 10 from Wawasee and 13 from Whitko. Despite being a little of with its serves, Whitko managed to pull out a 25-22 victory to clinch the match.

Wawasee’s issues serving were really the least of its problems in a game that was full of mistakes. Warrior head coach Jeff Phillips summed up his thoughts very quickly following the loss to a team that Wawasee had swept 2-0 in a tournament earlier this season.

“Nobody played well,” began Phillips. “Nobody played well off the bench, nobody played well in the starting lineup. We can’t win against any team when we play like that.”

Statistically Wawasee was led by Meghan Fretz’s eight kills, Madi Wilson’s five aces, Alli Ousley’s 26 assists and Aly Anderson’s 25 digs. Elaine Warner led Whitko with 24 digs and 28 assists.

Whitko is now 9-13 on the season and will play Fort Wayne Canterbury this Thursday. Wawasee falls to 15-12 and will host Elkhart Memorial Thursday evening. The Warriors will also be presenting the check earned last Thursday at their “Dig Pink” night against Warsaw.

Whitko swept the junior varsity match 2-0 over Wawasee.

Whitko’s Kaity Reed extends to get a piece of this ball. Reed had 11 kills for the Wildcats.