FULTON, Ind. – For any team competing for a championship, there usually comes a moment where there’s a chance to pack it in and go home. There come those tight spots where resolve is tested, and a lesser team might let up, break down and fade away.
Wes-Del’s volleyball team faced that sort of moment early in Set 4 of Saturday’s Class A Caston Semistate final. They’d lost the first set to Pioneer, rallied to tie, then lost the third set, and allowed three points in a row to open the fourth. In real terms, that’s not hard to rally from, but for some teams, mistakes compound, things snowball and it gets harder and harder to recover.
But the Warriors (34-3) are apparently not that kind of team. They struck back, took the fourth and then fifth sets for the trip to state.
“It was definitely down-lifting,” said Warriors star hitter Alysa Sutton of the fourth set, as throngs of cheering fans and players poured onto the court around her. “I think we came back together as a team. I’m so proud of us for doing this. It’s such a great feeling.”
She admitted her team played tense throughout the first four sets.
For a coach, those spots are delicate. Wes-Del head man Biff Wilson said he might direct a slight adjustment if he sees it, but mostly he waits. He’s looking for a spark, a big kill or an on-point ace, and there’s an implicit trust in his girls to get it done. He’s said having their backs against the wall seems to bring out the best in them, and battling deficits all night, they never broke.
The players, they’re just trying to find that emotional burst to get things going again.
“Really it’s just screaming at each other positive words,” Warriors middle hitter Mackenzie Whitehead said of the on-court encouragement. “We don’t really know what’s coming out of our mouths.”
Long time coming
Three years ago, Kennedy Petro could only watch. She was just a freshman, a bench player, confined to observing as her Wes-Del teammates went out and claimed a 2011 state title. Two other freshmen on that varsity roster are still around, Chloe Kinsey and Whitehead, plus a few more were in the program.
Twice they were denied return trips, by Cowan in sectional as sophomores and last year by Lafayette Central Catholic on the same Caston gym floor.
So yeah, getting back was pretty sweet.
“We have been together through it all,” Petro said of the team’s six seniors. “We were on that state championship team, and we know what it feels like.
“Our freshman year, we weren’t actually playing. We were sitting there watching them win. This year, we actually did it.”
Off the hook
On the other side, Pioneer coach Rod Nies could only lament the opportunities his team let get away. He pointed to bad rotations that hurt their serve-receive, but there was still a sense the Warriors usually had his Panthers (30-8) on their heels a bit.
When Pioneer had a lead (on more than a few occasions), there was always a lingering sense Wes-Del was still a good bet to strike back, making every late spot a job of simply holding on. In the end, they couldn’t make good on those chances.
“We kind of let up a little bit,” Nies said. “We missed some really vital serves right there at the end that put the momentum on their side.”