Whiteland’s Sophia Dyer (20) and her teammates react after winning a point in Wednesday’s match against Indian Creek.
At one point during Wednesday night’s junior varsity match, the poster of Ashlyn Ricketts hanging on the gym’s south wall fell to the floor.
An omen of sorts? Hardly.
Ricketts, the Warriors’ 5-foot-10 middle blocker, finished with a match-high 14 kills in helping her team score a 25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 25-14 victory over visiting Indian Creek.
The win improves Whiteland to 8-4 on the season, while the Braves drop to 10-2.
“Ashlyn played amazing,” Whiteland coach Jenny Munn said. “She’s not as big as some middles, but she works so hard that it just makes up for it in a lot of ways. She definitely stepped up for us tonight, and gave us a lot of energy at the net.”
The Warriors were the aggressor from the outset, racing to a 7-1 advantage in the opening set and warding off Indian Creek any time it got within three or four points. In the second, the score was tied at 19-19 before Whiteland closed strong, starting with kills from senior Kennedi Morrison and Ricketts.
Indian Creek dominated the third set early, going up 9-1 before a Warrior timeout regrouped the hosts, who gradually chipped away at the deficit to the point where the Braves only led, 22-18.
However, spikes courtesy of sophomore hitter Gabie Francis and senior Faith Wiseman helped send the match to a fourth set.
Whiteland coasted in the final set, ending any suspense by taking a 9-3 lead, building it to 20-9 and never looking back. Junior hitter Kiley Sullivan, who pitched in three kills during the fourth set, ended it with her final offering of the night.
“We just really wanted to get better,” Ricketts said. “Yesterday, we struggled as a team (at Franklin). We let a lot of balls drop, and we really wanted to correct the mistakes we were making.
“I think I definitely had a very good match tonight. I had a lot of blocks, and I think our team played really well. We picked up a lot of balls we were struggling to pick up, and I think we did good. We have good communication and chemistry on the team. We’re all friends, there’s no issues on the team, so I think that really helps.”
Morrison ended up with nine kills and two service aces for the Warriors, while Wiseman finished with 10 kills for the Braves and teammates Mattie Key, Francis and soph Adriana Williams had six each.
Indian Creek opened the season with a 10-0 mark before finally losing at Western Indiana Conference rival Sullivan in straight sets over the weekend. Prior to that, the Braves had scored seven three-set sweeps and three of the two-set variety for a 27-0 dominance.
“They are a good team. They’ve barely lost any sets,” Munn said of the Braves. “I do think strength of schedule is a very important thing, but I do think they deserve all the wins they’ve got. We just came out to battle today.”
Indian Creek returns home this evening to play Edinburgh, while the Warriors are off until Tuesday when they host Perry Meridian.
