The Whitewater Whippets kicked off Homecoming Week with an exciting 3-2 victory over visiting Evansville on Tuesday, September 28. The Whippets started the first set off by hitting an impressive .389 as a team. Two players, junior Kindyl Kilar and senior Savannah Hill, hit .500. Six different Whippets had one service ace each, to help propel Whitewater to an impressive 25-13 win. In set two, the Whippets continued their success behind the service line by having four aces and hitting .200 as a team, winning 25-17.
In the third and fourth sets, the offensive firepower for the Whippets dropped to .143 and .030, while only having one service ace in each set. The Whippets lost the third and fourth sets by the scores of 23-25 and 19-25.
Whitewater lost the coin toss in the deciding game, thus finding themselves receiving serve to start play. The Whippets immediately sided out with a kill and Cali Kopecky took charge at the service line, ringing off the next two points to put the home team up 3-0 and forcing Evansville to take a timeout. After the timeout, Evansville got on the board by a serving error. After a Blue Devil hitting error, Jenna Pope went back to serve for three more points to put Whitewater up now 6-1. Evansville and Whitewater exchanged the next two points before the Whippets went on another 3-point run. Evansville went on a 4-point run at the end of the fifth set to get within four points but were unable to dig a Kindyl Kilar hit. Whitewater won 15-10.
Whitewater travels to McFarland on Thursday night. McFarland is the 4th ranked D2 team in the state, and the Whippets are looking forward to the highly competitive match. Whitewater is currently 9-8 overall and 3-2 in the Rock Valley.
Whitewater Stat Leaders:
Aces: Kilar-4, Kopecky-3, Grosinske-3
Kills: Kilar-22, Kopecky-8, Grosinske-6
Blocks: Pope-2
Digs: Grosinske-23, Hintz-19, Yang-18, Kilar-17
Assists: Grosinske-19, Hintz-18
Evansville Stat Leaders:
Kills: Messling-11
Blocks: Brandenburg-2
Aces: Etringer-3
Assists: Etringer – 17
Article submitted by Kathy Bullis
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
kbullis@wwusd.org
