WARNER – Seldom do regular-season matches in early October mean so much.

Third-rated Warner outlasted fourth-rated Hitchcock-Tulare in high-quality battle Tuesday night. The Monarchs handed the Patriots their first loss in 24 outings in a 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-4 non-conference volleyball thriller.

“This was a fun one,” said Warner coach Kari Jung. “Our kids were motivated, because we wanted to give them their first loss.”

On a night that featured both squads pushing each other from corner to corner and playing balls off the ceiling, it was evident early on that this match carried a little added meaning for each.

“We’ve never beat these guys in my 19 years,” said Hitchcock-Tulare coach Jordan Opp.

While Warner won the opening set, the Patriots soon gained the momentum by claiming the second and third sets.

“We lost momentum terribly,” Jung said, “and I felt like we were slipping, but they kept it together.”

The goal, according to Jung, was to try to prolong the match as long as possible, because the Patriots hadn’t been tested much this season.

“We were hoping that maybe they weren’t used to going long matches, because they’ve won fairly easily,” Jung said, “so we were hoping if we could get them to set five that we might have a little advantage in endurance.”

Along the way, Warner regained the momentum and soon the Patriots were the ones slipping, trying to slow down hitter Kyleigh Schopp.

“Hats off to Warner. Set four we just couldn’t find their hitters,” Opp said. “Our block was working in sets one, two, and even three, set four somehow our block broke down. Obviously, if we don’t have the block with Schopp, our back row was trying to work their tail off, but just couldn’t get a ball up.”

Schopp knew it would be a competitive match and was up for the challenge.

“Our whole team thrives in this situation, just having a competitive team and we know they’re getting the ball back over, we’ve got to be ready to play defense,” Schopp said. “I think that really makes us excited to play, and we just want to be competitive and win every point.”

Schopp finished with a whopping 32 kills on the evening as the Patriots could not find a way to contain the senior who routinely put the ball to the floor or hit balls off of the Hitchcock-Tulare blocks.

“We absolutely didn’t have an answer, especially on the slide with Schopp,” Opp said. “We’re trying to guard that. We go line with her and then all of a sudden she goes cross court. We block her cross court, she goes line.”

Warner leveled the match by taking set four, and then dominated set five, scoring the final nine points of the night to halt Hitchcock-Tulare’s winning streak.

“They’re a great team obviously with their 23-0 record,” Schopp said, “but I think honestly it was our heart and our energy that really got us there.”

In the end, it was another near-miss for the Patriots in their quest to defeat Warner.

Hitchcock-Tulare senior standout Katelyn Schroeder knows the feeling all too well.

“In 2020 I was an eighth-grader and we played Warner two times and took them to five, but haven’t seem to knock them down, yet,” Schroeder said. “It’s been tough.”

Schroeder and Lila Johnson each had 11 kills to pace Hitchcock-Tulare.

Both sides walked away from the match feeling that the intense, hard-fought action will make them better in the long run.

“This is the kind of match that will help us down the stretch,” Jung said. “If we’re in a battle we can rely on what we learned here tonight.”

While the Monarchs played in last year’s state championship, they also feature plenty of players in new roles this season, so Tuesday’s match will pay dividends, according to Schopp.

“We have a lot of younger players on our team this year,” Schopp said, “and I think this five-set match really helped us so when it does get tight, we’re ready to play and we’re confident, and ready to take a swing.”

The Patriots are also planning on using the contest moving forward, including an upcoming match on Thursday against once-beaten Miller.

“That’s what we talked about in the locker room a little bit,” Opp said. “We have to take something away from this. We’ve got a tough Miller game on Thursday right around the corner.”

While it was the first loss of the season for Hitchcock-Tulare, Schroeder kept things in perspective.

“We’re a team that, we don’t like to lose, so that was really tough for us,” Schroeder said, “but they were such a good team and it was super fun to compete against them.”

Not only that, with both student sections into the match, it created an atmosphere that gave the players an adrenaline rush on the court.

Schroeder enjoyed competing in that environment, despite the setback.

“That’s what you dream of though,” Schroeder said. “We haven’t had games like that all season, so to have one like that was super fun.”

Serving: Hitchcock-Tulare (Ella Johnson 14-17 2 aces, Lila Johnson 17-19 1 ace, Isabel Gilbert 14-15 1 ace); Warner 98-106 14 aces (Jaycee Jung 15-19 6 aces, Jordyn Jensen 20-21 4 aces, Libby Scepaniak 25-25 2 aces).

Hitting: Hitchcock-Tulare (Katelyn Schroeder 40-42 11 kills, L. Johnson 28-29 11 kills, E. Johnson 24-30 5 kills, Rebecca Huizenga 14-15 5 kills); Warner 148-188 63 kills (Kyleigh Schopp 52-64 32 kills, MaKenna Leidholt 34-44 13 kills).

Setting: Hitchcock-Tulare (L. Johnson 17 assists, Gracyn Bixler 11 assists); Warner 182-183 59 assists (Scepaniak 73-74 30 assists, Reagan Wood 80-80 24 assists).

Digs: Hitchcock-Tulare (Schroeder 16, Cambree Hoekman 14, L. Johnson 13); Warner 90 (Jensen 19, Jung 16, Wood 11).

Blocks: Hitchcock-Tulare (Gilbert 1 solo 6 assists, Cora Hofer 6 assists, Rebecca Huizenga 5 assists); Warner 1 solo 4 assists (Schopp 2 assists).

Records: Hitchcock-Tulare 23-1; Warner 20-4.