Emily Hale
DALEVILLE – Many of the Wes-Del Warriors found themselves in unfamiliar territory Tuesday night at Daleville, and that’s not surprising given the volleyball team lost six seniors from a state championship squad. For some of the third-ranked Warriors, it was their first time being a rotation player in a varsity match.
One of those players, though — Wes-Del senior Emily Hale — felt right at home. As she peered into Daleville’s student section in warmups, she saw a familiar face: her brother, Ryan, a sophomore at Daleville. In pregame introductions, Hale caught Ryan cheering for her.
And after the visiting Warriors finished off a season-opening sweep of the Broncos 25-20, 25-19, 25-22 in Mid-Eastern Conference play, little brother gave a well-deserved congratulations to his big sister. Hale (five kills) and several seniors filled in nicely around star classmate Alysa Sutton as the Warriors were able to ditch the nerves quickly.
“I knew almost everyone in the gym, so it’s kind of fun,” said Hale, who is from Daleville but transferred to Wes-Del in eighth grade. “It was also cool that my first game (starting) was here.”
Out of Wes-Del’s nine-player rotation from last season, only three are back. That means a patient senior class got its first chance in the spotlight.
Daleville (0-1) got the first five points of the match, but Wes-Del (1-0) settled in nicely behind Sutton (10 kills, 11 digs), Perrie Smalley (six kills) and Morgan Prather (13 digs).
“I know that we were all pretty nervous going in being the first game of the season and losing a lot of seniors last year, but overall we did a lot better than we expected to,” said senior setter Haylie Spencer, who dished out 22 assists. “I think we really brought it together, especially after the first set when the nerves went away. I think we really focused in and started playing a tougher game that’s more our pace.”
For Wes-Del coach Biff Wilson, it was the perfect amount of adversity for a group eager for experience — not too much to overwhelm them, but enough for a good challenge.
“I hope people don’t think it’s just coach-talk when I say the first one is always a battle, but it is because Daleville always brings a nice team,” Wilson said. “Both teams, you saw that first game, it was like two armies firing missiles at each other.”
Lindsay Ingenito and Emily Kardatzke each had five kills to lead the Broncos, who don’t plan on backing down despite a difficult early-season slate.
“We’re not just going to look at the rankings and say, ‘Welcome to our gym, you win because you have a higher ranking,'” Daleville coach Beth Etchison said. “We have to go into every match believing we have a chance to win, and I felt like we did that tonight.”
Contact sports features writer Ryan O’Gara at (765) 213-5829. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGaraTSP.