SELMA, Ind - A heavyweight match-up went down in Raider Gymnasium at Wapahani High School as the 15-3 Daleville Broncos visited the 20-2 Wapahani Raiders for a Mid-Eastern Conference (MEC) tilt. After three sets, the Raiders came out on top after sweeping the Broncos in 3 sets.
Not only was tonight important for the Raiders as a team due to improving to 6-0 in the MEC, Emily Luce reached 1,000 digs in her career. Luce – only a junior – surpassed that goal towards the end of the final set.
“When we get a win, and I reach that on the same night, I think it's just special,” Luce said. “The team has been playing so well and we all have such an amazing bond. It's always just fun to win.
“It’s special because it's such a great community to be surrounded by here.”
Wapahani, coming off of a loss at Leo over the weekend, wanted to bounce back and not skid into a losing streak. That loss brought some lessons for the Raiders squad who has not found themselves on the losing end of many matches this season.
“We just really applied it into practice that Monday, and really focused on what we need to work on for today,” Wapahani head coach Valorie Wells said.
While the Broncos have been able to produce scoring runs throughout the season, the Raiders kept them in check tonight.
“Big scoring runs killed us against [Leo], so that's what we worked on,” Wells said. “Really just trying to not let teams get more than two runs on us. And I think we did that fairly well tonight against a really good team.”
The first set went Wapahani’s way after Daleville had some mental miscues. Those mistakes allowed Wapahani to pull out to an 18-12 lead before Broncos head coach Gayle Hicks called a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Broncos went on a run to bring them within 2 points at one moment. However, the Raiders were able to stomp that run and won the first set 25-19.
Wells –who arrived at Wapahani in the summer of 2023 – coached at Daleville prior to being hired at Wapahani. Wells felt a strong sense of community tonight after defeating her former school.
“Coaching in general, it's just fun,” she said. “Getting to know the girls is the best, but what makes this special here is these girls that play here, they really trust me. They really love me.
“We have a special bond here, not that I didn't have it there, but it's actually special here. I just feel the community, and I feel like they have my back and they trust me.”
Not only did Wells want this win for her team, the players wanted it for her.
“We came in [the huddle] and in the time out, they're like, ‘Let's just not do this for ourselves, but do it for coach’ and that really meant a lot to me,” she said.
Wells alluded to her team, and now the communities, “Don’t Be Satisfied” mentality. The motto has grown from the back of their warm up shirts to social media comment sections and community gatherings.
The second set was the closest of the night, The Broncos got off to a quick start and forced a Wapahani timeout. Wells and theRaiders came out of the timeout and scored a quick five points to even it back up. The Broncos pulled away, and at one point, led 24-19.
But Wapahani scored five unanswered to force extra points in the set. The Raiders eventually came out on top 28-26. The 3rd set was all Wapahani. The offense was rolling and Wells thought her team did well communicating and limiting errors.
“I think just the chemistry overall and just really trusting each other was a lot better,” she said. “We talked before this game, and that's what we learned over the weekend, just when we're tired try to just keep communicating, and don't get too comfortable. Keep improving on those certain things and do the little things right.”
“They keep doing it and listening and it’s working. It’s awesome.”
The Raiders will return to action tomorrow night when they travel to Monroe-Central for another MEC matchup at 7 p.m. Daleville will also play a MEC match tomorrow night at Shenandoah at 7 p.m.
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or via X @_loganconnor
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