Calvert begins season with a sweep of rival New Riegel

As the defending Division IV state champions, Calvert will face numerous tests this year.Consider the first on Tuesday night to be passed with flying colors.The Senecas faced little to no resistance from New Riegel, topping the Blue Jackets, 25-12, 25-20, 25-19 in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division action.Calvert (1-0 overall, 1-0 SBC River) used a plethora of heavy-hitting studs to push back on any run New Riegel (2-1, 0-1) had. Camryn Shook led the Senecas with nine kills while Hannah Miller and Kate Rombach each added eight kills. Caroline Lanicek rounded out the big hitters with five kills."That is what we want," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "We don't want anybody to walk away with all of it. We want to be balanced."In Set 1, the Senecas broke an early 4-4 tie with a 6-1 run to open a sizeable lead. From there, Calvert hit the turbo button to take control of the set and match.A kill by Lanicek and block from Shook increased the lead to 14-7. Later, kills from Miller and Rombach ballooned the lead to 19-9. Calvert finished even stronger, as blasts by Rombach and Kate Laney, coupled with a block by Lanicek and error on the Blue Jackets gave the Senecas the early lead."The girls showed up, that is for sure," coach Rombach said. "They came out a little too strong at times. We needed to settle in and not over play. We did that toward the end of the first set. We calmed down and settled into it."In Set 2, New Riegel came out playing better than it did in the first set, jumping out to a 10-6 advantage after a Calvert error. The Senecas ran off the next five points, but the Blue Jackets hung tough.New Riegel tied the set at 11, 12, and 13 points, but Calvert kicked it up a notch. This time, Rombach put down a pair of kills around a block by Emma White to push the margin to 18-13. The Blue Jackets clung back as close as three points, but never any closer. White — an all-Ohio setter — tallied a kill to wrap up the second set."I could not be happier," New Riegel coach Cindy Hoepf said. "I told the girls I wanted two things and that was to play with energy and compete. I think they did that. I think we have not put all the pieces together. We are going to grow probably quite a lot yet."In Set 3, Calvert again used a run in the middle of the set to build a comfortable lead. An error by the Senecas cut their lead to 9-8, but Miller and Rombach each tallied kills. White served up three aces in the run and suddenly Calvert was ahead 14-8.After a New Riegel timeout, the Blue Jackets continued to fight valiantly, stringing points together to draw within 20-17 after a kill from Gracie Goshe. The Senecas were up for the battle. Calvert won the next four points to all but slam the door shut, and a kill by Shook finished off the match for the Senecas."I think one thing we have to figure out as a team is we tend to get a lead then we tend to let off the gas a little bit," Hoepf said. "You can not do that against the defending state champions. You just can't."Aubrey Bouillon had 12 digs, three kills and four assists for the Blue Jackets, while JoJo Nye made 10 digs, Gracie Goshe had four kills and Katie Dryfuse ended with two blocks and two kills.Lanicek and Shook each tallied a pair of blocks while White added 25 assists for Calvert, who is right back in action tonight at home against Danbury. Mara Mangiola contributed nine digs."I think my assistant coach Taylor (Arbogast) said it best that some of the hitters were trying to put an exclamation point on the end of every hit," coach Rombach said. "You don't need to have an exclamation point on the end of every hit. You just have to be smart."