Senecas sweep Crusdaers, sets up title match with familiar New Bremen

FAIRBORN — If it wasn't one, it was the other. Seniors Camryn Shook and Caroline Lanicek formed a mighty duo Friday. The two combined for 27 kills to just three errors, helping lead No. 3 Calvert to a tough 25-19, 25-15, 25-20 win over No. 19 Canton Central Catholic in a Division IV state semifinal at the Nutter Center on the Wright State University campus. "I'm super proud of our team," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "We had a narrow focus on competing against Canton Central Catholic and advancing to (Saturday). I think our girls did a good job. "It might not have been our prettiest win all around," she added. "You win and move on. I'm proud of the effort we gave." The Senecas improved to 27-1 and will face No. 2 New Bremen (24-4) for the state championship at 5 p.m. Saturday. "We're ready. We're more than ready," Rombach said of facing the Cardinals in the final match of the season. "We have some work to do tonight to get us prepared for where we need to be. I'm so excited for that opportunity. "I think they're going to see a completely different team out of us tomorrow than they saw from us today;" she added. "We've only just begun." Lanicek was hot early for Calvert with seven kills and three blocks in the opening set. "I think I was feeling a lot of emotions early on and I wanted to get the job done for our team," Lanicek said. "It is the state semifinals and my mindset was to come out and do the best I could." Shook took over from there with 14 of her 15 kills coming in the final two sets. "Going into the second and third set, my whole focus was to do everything for the team," Shook said. "When we work together as us six, we always play our best. I wanted to do my best for them." It was far from easy against the Crusaders (23-6). With Claire Schoenberger serving, Calvert did jump out to leads of 8-1 and 9-2 early. Schoenberger had two aces in the run while Lanicek had two kills and two blocks. CCC got back in the set, drawing within 10-7 after a kill, but the Senecas kept fighting and maintaining. Shook's lone kill in the first set kept Calvert ahead 17-12. A pair of errors by the Crusaders and an ace by Alli Porter pushed the Senecas' lead to 20-13. CCC sliced back within 22-19, but after a timeout by Rombach, Lanicek belted back-to-back-to-back kills to give Calvert the opening set. "There were a little bit of nerves from everybody — even from the coaches," Rombach said of the opening set. "That's just part of being in a venue like this. On the bus before we got off, an assistant coach told us its OK to be a little nervous. "What we don't need to be nervous about is the sport that our girls are great at." The Senecas again got a nice start in Set 2 before facing a little more resistance by CCC. A pair of kills by freshman Bryn Meyer helped Calvert to a 4-1 advantage early. The Crusaders fought back and went up 8-7 following an Emma Bourquin kill. The Senecas responded and slowly won points in bunches to win going away. First, Bella Borgio lined a kill before an ace by Olivia Miller made it 12-9. Later, Lanicek clobbered a kill and Schoenberger served up an ace to make it 14-10. Calvert continued to play well both offensively and defensively to attack CCC. Oh yeah, and Shook heated up like fire on a cold night. She rocketed three kills around a Borgio block and Bryn Dircksen ace to make it 20-12. She added consecutive blasts moments later for a 22-14 lead. Porter tallied another ace, Shook lined yet another kill, and an error by the Crusaders gave Calvert a stranglehold on the match. "I was real excited," Shook said of playing at the Nutter Center for the first time in her career. "When I first walked in, I was a little nervous. Playing in Bowling Green really helped all of us calm our nerves." CCC wasn't deterred and didn't go quietly. The Crusaders played their best stretch of ball all night over the first half of the third set. Big hitters Madison Heiser and Lauren Niesel got going a bit for CCC early in the set as the Crusaders led 13-9 at one point, forcing a timeout by Calvert. The margin was still 16-11 later.But, the Senecas took over from there. "We stopped playing with emotion," Rombach said. "We started becoming individuals and lost the connection with each other. We called a timeout and reminded them we were in a state semifinal game and we were up 2-0." Shook registered a pair of kills as Calvert tied the set at 16. Another kill by Shook gave Kate Coleman the serve at 17-all. The freshman who played mostly junior varsity this season and had just four aces to her name the whole year nabbed four aces — including three in a row — to give Calvert a 23-17 edge. "Kate went to another level today," Rombach said. "It was beautiful to see. We say to go wrong strong. Go hard. Don't be safe and if you make a mistake, that's OK. That's what it felt like her mentality was." Emily Miller put down a kill for a plethora of match points. After CCC fended off a few, Shook tallied her final kill of the night to give Calvert the win. "I was real proud of Kate," Shook said. "It just showed that she mentally prepared and was ready to get in at any time in the game." Heiser and Neisel — by far the Crusaders' two best hitters — combined for just 14 kills with seven errors. A lot of that was due in part to the Senecas' defense. "Our defense did a good job," Rombach said. "They were light on their feet. We made a couple small adjustment in some of our defensive schemes. We felt relaxed." Olivia Miller finished with 21 assists while Dircksen added 13. Porter (10 digs) and Meyer each lined four kills for Calvert while Cecilia Palm led the defense with 13 digs. "I think our team is very good pulling the curtain," Lanicek said. "Me personally, I pretty much focus everything else our besides the six on the court. Walking in, I was honestly excited to play in a gym like this." It will be a familiar opponent for Calvert as it goes for the third state championship in six seasons under Rombach. The Senecas topped New Bremen to win the 2018 and 2020 state championships. The Cardinals are the defending state champions. "We've done the work. We've put in the hours," Lanicek said. "We're ready to go. There's not a doubt in my mind that our team is going to be where we need to be tomorrow. This would mean everything."