Calvert dominant in sweep of rival H-L

Losses for Calvert over the past three-plus seasons have been few and far between.So when the Senecas took the court on Tuesday against Hopewell-Loudon, Calvert coach Lori Rombach got to see a side of her team she rarely gets to coach.The Senecas came out focused and dominated the Chieftains from start to finish, picking up a 25-6, 25-13, 25-14 victory in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division action."We learned from the loss against Notre Dame (Cathedral Latin)," said Rombach of the Norwalk Invitational championship loss on Saturday. "That is for sure. We came in and it is Hopewell. The girls want to play ball against Hopewell and we came prepared."Calvert (8-1, 6-0 SBC River) wasted little time jumping on H-L (6-2, 4-1), scoring the first eight points of the match. Emma White served up the final seven points of the run including consecutive aces."Emma did a great job of controlling the tempo right from the first serve," Rombach said.The Chieftains got very little offense going against a tough Calvert block. A block from Caroline Lanicek gave the Senecas a 10-2 advantage and later, back-to-back aces from Olivia Miller boosted the lead to 15-3. Calvert never relented and a kill from Lanicek gave the Senecas the early lead."We talk a lot about controlling the tempo and not worrying about what is going on over there," Rombach said. "We didn't worry about the score in the timeouts. We wanted to control the tempo and do our thing. We've been trying to execute a little bit better on free ball plays. That was the feedback I received from Gilmour in a loss in the preseason and Notre Dame. We have to do a better job of executing off of the junk balls."Hopewell-Loudon played better in the second set, but it still was not enough. The Chieftains were within 6-4 after a kill by Izze Beidelschies was followed by a Calvert error, but that seemed to ignite the Senecas.Calvert won the next eight points for a double-digit lead that it maintained almost the rest of the set. Kills from Kate Laney and Kate Rombach pushed the Senecas ahead, 2-0."Calvert is a great team and are traditionally a powerhouse around here," Hopewell-Loudon coach Andrew Stalker said. "The girls know that and they get in their head before you even walk out there. It is tough. The whole week you go through and try to mentally prepare for them."It's different in the game when you are out there. You can try to simulate in practice as best as you want, but they have great athletes over there. They're very well-coached and they don't make mistakes. When they do, they come back with even more energy and more toughness. That is hard to play against, especially on this side."Calvert again jumped on H-L in the third set to dismiss any thought of a longer night. This time it was a 9-1 lead for the Senecas, built on the arm of Mara Mangiola's top-notch serving. She served up three aces while Lanicek and Hannah Miller each put down a pair of kills for Calvert early."You get in a hole early and it's too tough to come back with the amount of offense that they have on that side," Stalker said.The Chieftains got within six points on a couple occasions, but it was not nearly enough against the Senecas, who moved the ball effortlessly. In the end, Hannah Miller put down one more kill and a blast from sophomore Camryn Shook gave Calvert the win."Their defense concerned us," Rombach said. "(Grace) Dohanyos is a great player and that is something we talked about leading up to the game. We had to minimize the amount of touches she got."Abbe Beidelschies topped H-L with eight assists and three kills, while Dohanyos tallied 20 digs."Up until about the middle of the second set, we didn't do anything that we talked about," Stalker said. "We really wanted to limit their setter (White) and her scoring. She's a great offensive setter and she sets her hitters. We wanted to take her away and make their hitters beat us and that's what they did. Unfortunately, we started a little too late."Lanicek and Hannah Miller each smacked eight kills for the Senecas while Rombach added seven kills. Laney tallied six kills, White had 24 assists and six digs, AJ Hemminger nabbed 15 digs, and Mangiola added 11 digs."It's hard to be selfless when I have great players that sit on the bench," Rombach said. "We talk about it all the time that it is team first. We have to keep preaching that and keep the girls believing that. The girls will get opportunities at different times. We have to keep them focused for when those opportunities come."