Wapahani’s celebrates a State Championship win against Speedway at Worthen Arena Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015.
MUNCIE — For a second straight season, a Delaware County volleyball team was crowned state champion. Wapahani roared to the Class 2A state championship Saturday afternoon at Ball State’s Worthen Arena.
There have only been six seasons since 1984 in which a school in Delaware County has not won a title, and only one season since the state went to the class system for the 1996-97 season.
“It’s a culture, and that’s the biggest thing,” Wapahani coach Jared Richardson said shortly after the Raiders topped Speedway in four sets.
Richardson pointed to stacking the schedule with local opponents as a reason for the Raiders (27-11) winning their third state championship in five seasons. They played Yorktown (38-2) twice, Central (30-5) twice, Wes-Del (24-8) twice and Delta (24-11) once, a slew of opponents most Class 2A schools only dream of playing. According to IndianaPrepVolleyball.com, Wapahani played the sixth-toughest schedule in the state regardless of class, and by far the most challenging in 2A (Burris played the second-toughest slate in 2A, which was 54th overall).
As a result, Wapahani became the fourth state volleyball champion with double-digit losses.
“It just goes to the competition we’ve played,” Richardson said. “We’ve had experience playing behind in games, and they prepared us for it. We’re used to getting beat, and we’re used to losing points. I told them, we’re going to make mistakes and lose points today, but we’re going to get bigger runs and make less mistakes than Speedway. It all came together.”
The day could’ve been even bigger as Yorktown was uncharacteristically a step too slow in a three-set loss to Providence in the Class 3A state championship.
And who knows? If Virginia Wilhoite hadn’t torn her ACL, Central might have been squaring off with Indianapolis Cathedral in the Class 4A title match. If Wes-Del hadn’t bumped up to 2A this season, it had the talent to repeat as state champions in Class A.
But in the end, Wapahani was the only Delaware County squad left standing – with an assist to the rest of the area teams for preparing it.
“I told those girls in the locker room,” Richardson said, “it’s Speedway’s first time here. They don’t have older sisters who have played in this. They haven’t been in the stands during a state final. They have no idea what it feels like. We’ve got the culture, we’ve got the legacy, we’ve got the heritage. They knew that, and I think it helped push them over because we’re in these big situations all the time, and it’s always about them and the focus. So I think it was just another game today.”
Contact sports features writer Ryan O’Gara at (765) 213-5829. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGaraTSP.