UNION CITY – The Mississinawa Valley Lady Blackhawks defeated the visiting Dixie Lady Greyhounds 3-0 in varsity WOAC volleyball action.
“We play very well together when we are on,” said Mississinawa Valley coach Nancy Whitted. “When the right team shows up and they are on, they play very well together, just like we did tonight.”
The Lady Hawks jumped out to an 11-6 first-set lead and pushed it to 21-9 over the visitors, coasting to a 25-16 first-set win.
The Lady Greyhounds opened second set play with a 6-2 lead, but the Lady Hawks closed out the game on a 23-9 run, earning a double-digit 25-15 win.
“That’s kind of what we’re known for – we start slow, and then we turn it on, and then there is no stopping them,” Coach Whitted stated. “We have such good offensive minds. I have taught them the last three years we must be aggressive and hit the ball hard, so we work on that a lot.”
“Teams like Dixie with a couple of good hitters we need to make sure we get the blocks, we need to make sure we dig the balls up,” she added. “They know when they fall behind, they have to pick themselves back up, and they usually do a pretty good job of it.”
Set No. 3 had the visitors hanging around for a 12-12 score before Mississinawa Valley put together a 13-4 scoring run to close the night with a 25-16 win to sweep the conference match over Dixie.
Danika Neargarder was all over the place, and even when she has to chase the ball, she put up good sets,” Whitted said. “Cora and Makenna, the Hoggatt twins, put the ball down, and Allison Waymire, if she gets ahold of one and the twins get ahold of one, it’s going down, and you can’t dig it up.”
With the 2024 WOAC volleyball season just underway, Coach Whitted believes her Lady Hawks have a good opportunity to be in the hunt for the conference title.
“We want it, so we’re going to make the best run we can for sure,” Whitted said.
