Senecas finish runner-up at Norwalk Invite

NORWALK – Calvert was up against the giants.For the second year in a row, Calvert was overmatched a bit in the championship match of the Norwalk Volleyball Invite, as Columbus Bishop Hartley topped the Senecas, 25-20, 25-21 on Saturday."Bishop Hartley is a great team," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "We lost to a really good Division I team. They have seven returning seniors and it is basically the same team they had last year and that's what it felt like. It felt like a unified front and we are still working to become that."The first set was back and forth between Calvert (7-1) and the Hawks (7-0). The Senecas never led, but trailed just 13-12 after a block from freshman Carleigh Meier. Bishop Hartley was the first team to put separation between the two with three straight points including two kills from Kaylee Musick.From there, Calvert was playing catch up and was never able to do it. The Senecas were within 18-16 after a kill by Hannah Miller, but the Hawks' size proved to be too much. It was just a three-point deficit late still, but Bishop Hartley won three out of the last four points including kills from Emery Minnich and Ohio State bound Ella Brandewie to take the opening set."We can give up one or two points, but you can't give up four in a row," Rombach said. "If you give up four in a row, you lose a match. We have three girls returning with a good amount of volleyball experience. We have a young team."Calvert got a good start in Set 2, leading 5-4 after three consecutive points, but the Hawks had the answer in a big way. Bishop Hartley ran off 10 points in a row for a 14-5 lead.The Senecas kept fighting and got back in the set. Kills from Olivia Miller and Hannah Miller helped Calvert draw within 15-12.But, three points was all the closer Calvert would get. The Hawks moved the ball freely and used a plethora of big hitters to attack the Senecas and balloon the margin back up to 22-16. Calvert sliced the lead in half, but Lauren Johnson's kill secured the win for Bishop Hartley."We are not in that position very often," said Rombach of the early Set 2 deficit. "I want to see us fight out of that when we are in that position. If we want to be a great team, we have to learn how to not get ourselves in that position."Caroline Lanicek tallied seven kills while Hannah Miller and Camryn Shook each added six kills. Olivia Miller tallied 20 assists and eight digs while Cecilia Palm registered seven digs."One thing we learned from the loss is we have to become more of a team and work with each other better," Rombach said.It was a rocky start to the morning for the Senecas. Facing a tough Wooster (5-3) team, Calvert dropped its first set of the season, but bounced back with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-18 win. Calvert trailed 20-17, but used a 5-1 run to take a lead. The Senecas still led 23-22 a few points later, but the Generals won the last three points of the set including consecutive kills from Marin Dixon and Sara Snowbarger to take the early lead.Calvert bounced back in Set 2, jumping out to a quick 6-3 lead. The Senecas led the set wire-to-wire, opening a 19-13 lead after a block and kill from Lanicek. Wooster proved tough, getting within two points twice, but Shook smacked one of her 14 kills in the match to knot it up.The Senecas controlled the third set from the get-go. Calvert had leads of 6-2 and 12-6 and were really able to control the pace of the set throughout. Kills from Olivia Miller and Shook made it 16-9 and later, another ball put down from Shook kept the lead at 19-13. The Senecas never gave up and kills from Lanicek and Shook gave Calvert the win."I like the way we finished obviously," Rombach said. "We were a little too passive in the first set. We missed way too many serves in the first set. We needed a second to relax and get in the tempo. After the first set, I knew the girls could play better than that. My job was to get them loose and aggressive and ready to play."Lanicek finished with 15 kills and three blocks against Wooster while Shook lined 14 kills. Olivia Miller tallied 36 assists and nine digs, Palm had a team-high 17 digs, and Alli Porter had 10 digs.The Senecas faced little to no resistance in the semifinals against Norwalk (1-7). Calvert topped the Truckers, 25-10, 25-14. In Set 1, the Senecas won nine points in a row to go from down 4-3 to up 12-4. Calvert continued to win points in bunches and pushed the lead to 19-7 after Olivia Miller's service ace. Three errors by Norwalk gave the Senecas the opening set."Our pregame talk was let's get in and let's take care of business," Rombach said. "Norwalk has gotten a lot better from when we saw them in the summer. Coming off the tempo game against Wooster, I knew the tempo was going to be a bit slower with this one."Set 2 was a little closer, as the team's split the first 18 points. From there, Calvert slowly built on its lead and Shook's kill gave the Senecas a 17-12 edge.Calvert added the next six points too for a 23-12 advantage. Lucy Schlotterer tallied a kill for the Truckers, but an error on Norwalk and another kill from Shook gave Calvert the win."Calvert has a lot of experience on their floor and we struggled to adjust a little bit to the speed of the game," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "We struggled to stay consistent and control the ball on our side of the floor. I think that's normal with the youth we have."Shook led the Senecas with seven kills against Norwalk while Lanicek and Hannah Miller each added four kills. Olivia Miller tallied 15 assists and seven digs while Palm registered 14 digs."You have to put those runs together," Rombach said. "You can't take plays off. Right now, we are taking a couple plays off and that allows them to hang around with us until we separate ourselves."Calvert has yet to win the Norwalk Volleyball Invitational, but playing the quality teams it does, it will go a long way when tournament time rolls around."I'm not disappointed with my team at all," Rombach said. "In fact, I'm super proud. There's eight teams here and there's one Division IV team that is leaving as runners-up. I'm proud of us for that. There was two Division II teams and everyone else was Division I. It is intimidating for the girls. It is intimidating for the coaches. If we want to be great, we have to learn how to compete in that type of environment."