Heights volleyball defeats Northwest in five games
Sept. 10, 2009 @ 9:58 p.m. by JoannaONLINE EXTRA (this is an online-only volleyball article, video below)
By Joanna Chadwick
The Wichita Eagle
Writing off Heights this season was pretty easy. The Falcons had lost the majority of their team to graduation, including All-Metro hitter Ashlea Bengtston.
It seemed a no-brainer that Heights, the reigning City League champs, would falter this season.
Heights proved early that wasn’t the case when it took Bishop Carroll to five games before losing. And the Falcons proved it again Thursday night when they beat Northwest 25-12, 25-14, 23-25, 22-25 and 15-9.
“I hope we learned our lesson with Bishop Carroll, going five with them,” Heights coach Gary Thomason said. “We’re young, though. I’m throwing out sophomores, juniors and one senior that plays all the way around. It’s lessons being learned, and I’m glad we’re learning them this way.”
It wasn’t easy, though, even while Heights cruised in the first two games.
Sophomore Crystal Whitten dominated at the net with seven kills in the first two games as she finished with a match-high 20.
And the Falcons simply took advantage of what Northwest gave them, which included 23 unforced errors – in the first two games.
“In the first two games, I don’t think it had anything to do with our backrow players and servers,” Northwest coach Dianne Popp said. “It had to do with the front row. We weren’t mixing it up setting wise. It was more mental errors. I don’t know if that was because we hadn’t played a team as good as that. I don’t know what it was. We have to sit and talk about it and figure it out.”
But in the third and fourth games, Northwest recovered completely. After opening the first two games in deep holes of 9-2 and 10-2, the Grizzlies not only took early leads, but they cut down on unforced errors and started blocking Heights’ hitters.
Northwest junior Alaina Shine, who had three kills in the first two games, had three in Game 4 and finished with eight kills and two stuff blocks. Teammate Kelsey Berlin had six kills and two stuff blocks.
Heights stumbled, committing 27 unforced errors in that span, 15 more than the first two games.
“The thing about Dianne’s teams, they’re tenacious and they never give up,” Thomason said. “They cleaned it up. I don’t want to say it was night and day, but those balls that were dropping in the first two games were being passed. We didn’t respond.”
Senior Lindsay Moss, who had 15 kills, added: “They started passing and getting blocks on us. We have really hard outside hitters and a strong front row, so when they started blocking, we started falling apart and not covering.”
Despite the momentum gained from winning two straight games, Northwest reverted to its early ways and fell behind 10-2 in the final game.
Moss was the key in the final game when she had six kills and one stuff block. Whitten ended the match with a kill. Junior Perri Tucker had one stuff block in Game 5 and four for the match.
“It was the beginning of the games, getting ourselves in a hole,” Popp said. “We need to work on getting it back point for point. The second game we were down 15-6 and we had only scored one point off a sideout. We had no kills, we had nothing. We were basically siding out and you can’t do that at this level.”
“Mentally we’re in the game and we’re only down one or two points and the score gets higher and higher, we’re OK. But in Games 1 and 2 when we got down five, six, seven points, that’s what’s really hard. I told my girls, that’s what we need to practice.”
vballin' says:
September 10th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Good job, Joanna. Glad to see you out at this good city league match and giving the girls some pub.
It was too bad the refs let coach Thomason chew on the line judge as long as they did in the fourth game and only gave him a yellow card. He should have been tossed. Guess his kissing up to them during the first three games paid off. But his chewing on the line judge cost him a call and very possibly the fourth set because Heights didn’t get any consideration of a possible touch call late in that one. Its disgusting to see his pissy attitude and poor sportsmanship being passed on to his players.
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vballin' says:
September 10th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
p.s., I notice that you post this as an online only extra (which I’m not paying you for) and that this probably won’t be in my newspaper tomorrow. I don’t care who is playing who in football tomorrow. There should be an article about this match in the paper … or, as I’ve been thinking more and more lately that (like so many others, I’m sure) perhaps I don’t really need to keep my paper subscription going. Alot of people who might be interested, won’t see this story otherwise … like my dad, as they may not be online like us younger old folks. Guess it’s probably just old-fashioned of me to want to see newspaper articles that all of our kids could clip and save for their scrapbooks, like I did a few decades ago.
Maybe you’ll prove me wrong and at least print a little of this “extra” news in the paper tomorrow … as a lead in to Saturday’s tournaments. I hope so. See you Saturday.
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Heights Alumni says:
September 11th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Thanks for saying that it wipes off on his players because everyone on that team has great sportsmanship and so do the girls that previsouly graduated from Heights. How about you get your information right next time. Thank you
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Jennie12 says:
September 11th, 2009 at 12:56 am
I’m right there with you Heights Alumni
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Joanna says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:09 am
vballin’ — I’m sure this will make no difference to anyone, but I thought I’d share it anyway. My job has many different facets to it, just like anyone of you readers in your jobs.
With scheduling and space for the paper, there wasn’t time for me to cover this match or space in the paper for it. Fridays are always tight space-wise.
But I felt it necessary for myself to end an evening planned with my family to go to the match. And since I was there, I told my boss I would write a full story for online.
If it’s not something you guys want to read, then I won’t post it. But the way I feel is, any time I can add something to our printed paper and do it online, then that’s what I want to.
Then again, if it’s pointless, I won’t waste my time or anyone else’s.
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Heights Parent says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Joanna,
Paper or internet, coverage is coverage and your story is well written. The kids are who this story is for and they ARE the ones on the Internet! They will print this story off of the computer for their scrapbooks the same way we did from the paper. Job well done and keep it up, do not stop because certain individuals cannot or will not accept the fact that it is a technology world!
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crazy says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:35 am
I have criticized in the past but now compliment. Keep it up Joanna you are doing great. Hope to see you maybe at one of our games when we make it to the Wichita area.
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Jephry says:
September 11th, 2009 at 7:45 am
I think it’s just awesome that there is some coverage of volleyball. Joanna, thanks for going out of your way to attend this match and to write about it. It’s a great read!
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vballin' says:
September 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Joanna, I’m sorry that the majority of my words overshadowed my appreciation (first stated) for you being there at NW and writing this story. Again, good job and thanks for your coverage of city league volleyball. Nice story on Sarah Waterson, too. It’s just too bad the Eagle used up so much space on Carroll and NW footbal today and couldn’t find room to include some of the story of this good volleyball match. My bet is that this match was a better story than the story of the BC-NW football game will be. We’ll see.
I’m sorry too, Heights Alumni, but POOR sportsmanship is displayed when a coach jumps out of his chair and continues to argue with a line judge in volleyball. Poor sportsmanship was also displayed last year by one certain Heights player at the Wichita district tournament when she screamed in the face of her opponents several times and then was finally yellow carded after a verbal warning from one of the refs to stop. After which, her poor sport of a coach mockingly stood and applauded vociferously several times right thereafter. I’ve seen him go off at club tournaments too. Not to say that he isn’t a good coach. He’s just a really poor example of sportmanship for the kids and it shows in their actions also … last night included.
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bluegray213 says:
September 11th, 2009 at 9:52 am
v ballin,
Get a life…..its coaching…not all coaches need to play every girl and need to take them out for tea, and pat them on thier backs. He is just being competitive. Get over it.
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Heights Parent says:
September 11th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Vballin,
Your last sentence in your latest comment leads one to believe that poor sportmanship was displayed by one or more Heights players last night. I beg to differ with you on this and I am an adamant believer in good sportsmanship. While I will admit that I could have missed something that occurred last night, (don’t believe I did though) the one thing you might be referring to as poor sportsmanship (a block at the net and the ensuing celebration), I call pure intensity and competitiveness. Is it poor sportsmanship if a football player delivers a huge hit on a tackle and then doesn’t help the other person up?? If I missed something last night, please explain what it was, otherwise take into consideration this is not the YMCA anymore and keep your sportsmanship comments concerning the girls to yourself..
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BamBam says:
September 11th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Vballin’, I’m not going to attack the obvious lack of competitive knowledge and constant lack of respect and negativity for Coach Thomason and more importantly Ms. Chadwick. I have had the good fortune to work with Gary on and off over the last 14 years and consider him a close friend. I can see where your sense of having “POOR sportsmanship” and being intense, as well as highly competitive are disturbingly skewed. He’s passionate about his work and I challenge you to find a former player who says anything bad about the man. When you attend the Northwest/Bishop Carroll game tonight, pay close attention to the coaches on the sideline and ask this question; is their behavior over a bad call any different than Coach Thomason’s? If the answer is no, then find an audience who will embrace your pessimism.
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bluegray213 says:
September 11th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
V Ballin,
I know who that “certain Heights person” is your talking about. Do you know that person? Do you know that “certain Heights person” fierce competitiveness? Do you know how much work that person puts in to achieve success? Did you know that “certain Heights person” is a 4.0 student in high school? Did you know that certain Heights person put in more work then any player in the City has ever thought about putting in? Did you know that person put work into the sport were talking about…and then didnt even play it in college? Do you know that person work ethic? Before you critisize the sportsmanship of a school or coach, you might want to know who that person is. Just because you sit on the opposite side of bleachers and maybe your teams losing and you see someone screaming or being caught up in the moment after a kill or block, doesnt mean you can come on here and critisize an individual. Then put the label of bad sportsmanship on them? Just like Heights parent said, its intensity and competitiveness. Do you wonder why Heights wins? Im not saying sports are everything. Heights proves to excel in academics and sports, and just because your team loses doesnt mean you need to criticize Heights for winning. I’ll admit bad sportsmanhip when I see it.
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Joanna says:
September 11th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Blush, blush — ya’ll are too kind. I’m just glad that I was at a match with so much intensity and so many good athletes.
As for Heights sportsmanship….. I do understand why people look at Gary Thomason, the Heights coach, as a super-intense guy, which he is.
But what makes him stand out is that the majority of volleyball coaches don’t show that emotion. I personally have no problem with how he handles himself out there because he does nothing different than high school basketball and football coaches.
If you have a problem with it, fine. I just don’t.
I thought there was an interesting rule change in volleyball, though — coaches now can actually stand up in a coaches box and give instructions to their players. I always though it had to be the worst thing for coaches to have to stay in their seats and never get up and coach.
Just my thoughts.
As for the seven teams I’ve seen this season — Valley Center, Maize, Derby, Carroll, Kapaun, Northwest and Heights — there’s a heck of a lot of talent in the area. It’s not a surprise to me, but it’s great to see some real talent.
Who have you seen that has blown you away?
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Spartan says:
September 11th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Collegiate! Some how Collegiate is flying under the radar. They’re ranked #1 in 3A, undefeated and nobody seems to be talking about how much talent they have. Wow! They are loaded.
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ltsfandco says:
September 13th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Agreed, Collegiate is very good. In fact, I think they could beat just about anybody in the state. BTW, maybe Wheeler could use Thomasons “intensity and competitiveness” on the Heights football sidelines as they are pretty well stinkin’ it up this year. I think Thomason and some others, BC coach, Kapaun’s coach, etc…are good VB coaches. But, I wonder how well they would do at a West or SE.
I agree, there is a lot of good VB talent out there. Looks like a 4 team race (BC, Kapaun, NW, and Heights), in the City League this year, then everybody else fighting for 5-8. East can surprise some people. Since my heart lies with North as an Alum, I hope they can get untracked as they seem to be struggling. They are down in overall talent this year, but, they still have a couple or more of very good athletes that can turn it around. SE, South, and West are about where they usually are.
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nonsense says:
September 14th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
V Ballin
I’m just going to say that no one can say that Coach Thomason has bad sportsmanship until you have actually played for him. You can’t say you know the man until you’ve actually stepped onto the court with him. He is a competitive person but for the best of his girls. He only wants to see them succeed in the end and grow in the sport.
The fact that you are calling out that “certain Heights student” shows that you just don’t understand how Athletics at Heights are ran. Coach Thomason neither has he or will he “rub off” onto his athletes. They play for their team and to be the best they can be. Thomason is there to help lead the falcons to success this season, and it looks promising to me. So before you can call out the Heights Volleyball Team you need to review your resources.
Thank you
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vballmom says:
September 15th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Why focus on an impassioned opinion by Heights Coach Thomason? The focus should be the incredible job the girls did in proving that even though they are a young team, they are a strong team. Over and over we watched Captain Lindsey Moss pull HER team together and rally for a victory. This is the first game were we have seen so many calls made against sets and it seems they were all on Heights. It’s amazing that the up-ref could see those sets well enough to make the calls from across the court when the down-ref standing right beside the player never called it. Coach T is entitled to his opinion that the ball which fell right at his feet was OUT. The line judge’s opinion stands. Something Coach T is entitled to argue against but knows stands. Coach T might not do everything just right…he’d be the first to admit it, but overall he is a great coach as evidenced by the Heights team.
The worst show of sportsmanship came from the Northwest crowd who was allowed to mock and try to distract the players. That kind of behavior would NEVER have been acceptable at Heights. We Heights alum and parents believe in a high standard. That’s why we are winners.
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sbcoach says:
September 18th, 2009 at 2:09 am
vballmom, it is the up officials job to call illegal hits. the down ref calls net violations and center line violations. I’m assuming you didn’t know that, because if you did, you wouldn’t have made the comments about the officiating. However, I suggest next time you know what you are talking about before you say anything about the officials
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