4A Regional: @ La Porte, October 22

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now that we're done previewing the southern half of the 4A draw, we move north. WAY north, in fact. Of the sixteen teams remaining in 4A, the Slicers are the only program playing at home. With that being said, here are the four teams in this Saturday's regional, with each team's uncommitted stud that should get more attention as the playoffs continue. The intriguing part of this regional? None of the teams listed here are ranked in the top ten in the state. For me, this means one of the four listed here make it to the semi-state the following Saturday with a little mystery and a lot of winning experience.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>10a: Crown Point (18-15) v Lake Central (27-9)</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a match of youth versus experience. The Bulldogs graduated a ton of talent from last year's squad, but teams like CP are great at reloading and really don't rebuild often. Stepping up to a major role in her first high school competition, you'd think <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='236692' first='Elle' last='Schara'] ('26, 5-10 OH)</strong> has been there a while. She plays with a maturity not normally seen from a freshman, and will be the primary attacker for the Bulldogs this weekend. On the other side of the net are a bunch of attacking seniors, led first and foremost by heavy-hitting <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='236693' first='Katia' last='Nikolic'] ('23, 6-0 OH).</strong> She hits high and hard, is strong on defense at the net, and could play either pin at the next level. The Indians' 3-2 comeback win back in mid-September over CP was huge for their confidence, but a five-set loss to La Porte just two weeks ago exposed a few dents in the armor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>12:30p: Warsaw (23-8) v La Porte (26-8)</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A home game for the Slicers, Warsaw will have to lean heavily on their experience and leadership to get through this one. Look no further than <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='110499' first='Melaina' last='Hawblitzel'] ('24, 5-10 OH),</strong> a junior who can be a solid primary passing outside for some lucky college program in the fall of '24. Another junior on the other side of the net, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='236694' first='Emalee' last='Maesch'] ('24, 5-7 OH), </strong>brings her all-around game to the fray as well. This match will be dictated by these two, and should be a fun one to watch. La Porte's 2-0 win in mid-September might be good footage to review---Miss Maesch had 14 kills and hit .500 (!!!) against the Tigers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Vote for your winner of the La Porte regional:</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://poll.fm/11222570","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"crowdsignal","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-crowdsignal wp-block-embed-crowdsignal"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://poll.fm/11222570 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->