Tigers Come Up Aces
WARSAW – If Warsaw were holding a poker hand Thursday night, it would have been stacked with aces. The Lady Tiger volleyball team rocketed 10 aces in dealing the ace of spades to trump Plymouth, 3-0, at the Tiger Den.
In a 25-13 win in game one, Warsaw started off hot and never let up. A pair of aces from Lina Mayer and Haley Peterson got Warsaw rolling and defensive hustle from Peyton Adamiec energized Warsaw’s giddyup. Adamiec, who had 31 digs in total on the evening, had a pair of ups in the first game that set the tone, helping Warsaw jump out to a 16-9 lead.
The Pilgrims weren’t about to fold, and the old rivals traded stares in game two. Plymouth took advantage of some sloppy Warsaw finishing to trail just 18-17, but then gave up three of the next four points. After trading kills, Plymouth tipped out, followed by a Courtney Steffensmeier kill and an ace from Adamiec to close out the 25-19 Warsaw win.
Game three was all Lady Tigers, who got Plymouth out of rhythm quickly and just poured it on. Blake McGarvey and Cassie Hoag each had two aces and the front line for the Lady Tigers picked and chose their spots to finish the attack. Peterson played the trump card with a slam to claim a 25-13 final, tidying up a match that took just over 70 minutes to complete.
“When we can keep everybody healthy and keep the rotation we want to play when everyone is performing well, that puts a lot of good servers on the court,” said Warsaw head coach Mike Howard. “We had some people banged up and that mixed up our rotation. That took some of our good servers out, and then we were trying to find our rhythm. Tonight, when we can play Blake and Haley, then Peyton and Jordyn (Lindeman) served the ball well. It made things easier for us.”
Having the presence of Hoag, who had 30 assists and 12 digs, and Adamiec in the normal rotation after missing matches to injury was a key for Warsaw. The rhythm for Warsaw seemed fluid with Mayer and Lindeman each recording 12 kills, but unsung heroes like Steffensmeier and Lexie Day to get into the mix as well.
“We want to ease Cassie and Peyton back into the rotation,” Howard said. “You don’t want to just throw kids in there, and when they don’t play and struggle, they can get injured again and we don’t want that. It was nice to see them get settled in tonight and play well.”
Warsaw moves to 12-5 on the season and even up at 2-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference. Up next for Warsaw is a spot in the Michigan City Invite this Saturday.
The Warsaw JV defeated Plymouth in two games and the Tiger freshman beat Plymouth in three games.