Senecas halt OF's tourney run, head back to state for 4th straight year

ELIDA – Playing for each other requires an enormous amount of trust in one another to make it happen.Calvert's motto all season has been just that, trust in us.In dominating fashion, Calvert fought its way to its sixth regional title defeating rival Old Fort 25-17, 25-17, 25-7 Saturday at the Union Bank Gymnasium in Elida.The Senecas are now headed back to Wright State University Thursday to face Westerville Northside Christian in Division VII state semifinals."Our girls came prepared and ready to play," Senecas coach Lori Rombach said. "I'm happy that we got the win today, this is the hardest win to get to punch a ticket to state. A lot of teams have worked hard and we worked hard, and we get to go to Wright State University and compete."The uncommon part of the game was that the Senecas (27-0) and the Stockaders (21-6) faced each other twice in the regular season for conference play before the match Saturday. The first time was September 3, and the second was October 1."I feel like it's really uncommon for us to face an opponent three times," senior Bella Borgio said. "It's not normal but we worked really hard to get here and it's our fourth time winning regionals as seniors."Setter Bryn Dircksen agreed with Borgio."I think we showed up for each other," Dircksen said. "We knew this team coming in here and we didn't want to overlook them and we wanted to finish it up."For OF, it was the first time in 21 years that the Stockaders had been to regionals. "We came out aggressive and our game plan was to come out swinging," Stockaders coach Erin Reed said. "We bomb it out, we bomb it out, but we go down swinging. Everything needed to be aggressive. Defensively, we picked up a lot of their hits and I was good with it."In Set 1, Calvert came out with a two-point lead before Marah Miller had a kill.The Senecas responded with a three point run, 5-1, before the Stockaders put a pause on it.The teams kept within three to four points of each other, but late in the match, on an error from the Senecas, it was 16-13.Late in the set, the Senecas fired off kills from Carly Bagent and Gracie Miller, and an ace from Borgio put the Stockaders in the hole 21-13."You give Gracie a wall to run through and she will run through," Rombach said.Miller hacky sacked the ball, dove out of the back to make a dig that propelled the Senecas to victory at one point."Her performance on the service line speaks for itself," Rombach said. In Set 2, OF did take the lead early, but it was the only time, and that was after Gracie Miller had her serve hit the net.Hope Waire righted the ship with a kill and tied it 2-2 before Borgio sent the ball into the floor, pulling Calvert up 3-2.OF tried to keep it tight, and got close on an Adelyn Dick kill making it 7-6.It was a little too close for comfort. Borgio had a kill. Then Adelyn Dick's bump hit the net.Borgio nailed in an ace in the back corner and sailed a kill before Stevie Baker smacked the ball over, drawing it 11-7."Old Fort wasn't going to give it to us easily," Rombach said. "If you want to be a great team, that's what you have to do. I told the girls during the timeouts, we don't want anyone to just give it to us, we want to earn it. We have to go get it and that's what we are going to do."For the remainder of the set, each team traded small runs, but the point difference got too much for the Stockaders to overcome when it was 21-13."Our game plan to deal with Bella and their hitters was the same as it always has been," Reed said.Except this time, they matched her up with Abbi Ward, who was able to handle Borgio."Abbi did a great job handling her," Reed said. "I think the last time we played them, I think Abbi had five blocks on her. Just keep getting touches on her. A couple went off of her hands but we picked up as much as I thought we could, but our defense was our strength."Though the Stockaders season ended, that doesn't mean the work stops either."I told the girls, it can suck for today, but as the days go by, it will be pretty cool," Reed said. "Especially with the history that has been made.Notable for OF, Lucy King had 11 digs and 19 assists, with Carly Fortney tying King in digs with 11 as well. Marah Miller had nine digs, Dick had 11 digs as well along with two kills. Ward had two kills with 10 digs. Gabby Zimmerman had one ace, two digs, and six kills while Baker had four kills and one dig."For us, it doesn't matter who is on the other side of the net," Borgio said. "We are going to go hard and make that trip back to state." Looking at the numbers, it's amazing what the Senecas have accomplished this season. The match against OF was the 56th win in a row. They haven't dropped a set this season, making it 78 in a row."I don't look at the numbers honestly because that's not what I am focused on," Rombach said. "I like to focus on our process and our systems, and our girls are doing a great job at showing up and playing for each other. When you do that, those types of things start to rack up, which is what is happening. As long as we are having fun and showing up, and being there for each other, and the wins come with it, that's great."Dircksen led the Senecas in assists with 35. Gracie Miller had 12 kills and eight aces. Waire had four kills. Megan Rombach had seven kills. Borgio had three aces, 11 kills, and eight digs. Savannah Faber had two aces and seven digs, while Kate Coleman had seven digs.While the ticket is punched for now, there is still work to be done to get ready for the big stage."We are really excited to get back to the gym and keep working," Borgio said.Rombach wants the girls to know it's not just days off from school or even a vacation while in Dayton."It's exciting and we will celebrate how we got there," Rombach said. "We aren't just satisfied just getting there. We have work to do once we get there. We have a short week to get ready and it's our jobs as coaches to get them ready. We have a job to do and our focus has to turn quickly on Monday."