It only cost $6 for fans to watch the opening round of the annual Johnson County tournament at Edinburgh Wednesday evening, but the action provided by the Lancers and Whiteland was worth a lot more.
In a remarkable five-set match, Whiteland and Edinburgh fought it out, and while the Warriors never scored first, they took the win, 32-30, 25-27, 17-25, 25-18, 15-6.
Each set produced some great play, long volleys and excellent saves, but also mental errors like communication breakdowns, net serves and missed balls when there probably shouldn’t have been.
In short, it was action packed between two evenly matched teams.
Whiteland coach Jill Cain seems to be used to the slow starts, but the focus is how the Warriors finish, and finish they did when it counted, especially in the final set, when they reeled off nine straight points.
“It always takes us a little bit to warm up and it’s a conversation we have,” Cain said. “I don’t know that that’s a concern, but we fought really well, which is not historically what we’ve done.”
Whiteland may have thought they were in the rugged Mid-State Conference the way Edinburgh was playing.
The first set was a marathon session that saw the teams tied with each other 10 times — after the Lancers had jumped out to a 14-6 lead and appeared to be cruising.
But Whiteland fought back thanks to better communication and ultimately took the lead by three, 21-18, before the Lancers tied it with three straight points. Unfortunately for Edinburgh, they couldn’t string together a run of more than two points the rest of the way and the Warriors just outlasted them.
It was nearly a repeat in the second set, with both teams tying each other 11 times; this time, however, the Lancers pulled it out, which gave them the momentum to take a third set in which they never trailed.
Once again, Whiteland couldn’t open strong despite being down a set, but the Warriors went on a huge run to take control and keep the Lancers from celebrating.
“We had the energy we wanted to finish with,” Cain said.
That energy came in handy for Whiteland in the final set, as the Warriors simply wore down the Lancers.
As usual, Whiteland had the Lancers where they wanted, going down 0-2 before those nine consecutive points took Edinburgh out, and the Warriors could finally secure the win.
Edinburgh co-coach Megan Smith felt this was a win that got away.
“They played hard all night,” Smith said. “I think we were fatigued and exhausted at the end, but I couldn’t be prouder of them.
“They played well, but I think we should have come out on top.”
Next up is another daunting task for the Warriors, as they return to Edinburgh take on Center Grove in a semifinal match.
