Cardinals top Senecas in 4 in state title match

FAIRBORN – The two premier Division IV teams in the state met Saturday night.For the third time in six years, Calvert battled New Bremen with the state championship on the line.Unfortunately for the Senecas, they couldn't make it three-for-three over New Bremen.The No. 2 Cardinals were just too tough, claiming their second-straight title, 25-22, 26-28, 25-22, 25-16 over No. 3 Calvert at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University."Well it didn't end the way we wanted it, but super proud of this team and the journey we've been on," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "We were led by five seniors. I couldn't ask for a better group of seniors. They've taught the younger athletes - the freshmen and sophomores on our team - a lot about being good teammates and not giving up."The Senecas finished the year 27-2. It was yet another tremendous season over Calvert, winning its sixth league and district title under Rombach. The Senecas have three regional titles since 2018."If we can walk off the court and say we tried our best, we didn't give up, and if we didn't come up with a win? It happens and I'm proud of my team," Rombach said.It brings an end to the careers of Calvert's five seniors, Cecilia Palm, Olivia Miller, Camryn Shook, Caroline Lanicek, and Alli Porter."Calvert volleyball has become very competitive and we had freshmen and sophomore that were fighting for (the seniors') spots all year," Rombach said. "Each of those five girls had a choice to make. They could have bucked and resisted it or could have embraced it."I think the reason we're playing on state championship Saturday is they embraced it."Both state championships for the Senecas - 2018 and 2020 - have come in wins over New Bremen. The Cardinals got Calvert in a regional final in 2019.Consider it 2-2 in perhaps a best-of-seven series."When you lose in this game, it hurts. It hurts a lot. I've been there," New Bremen coach Diana Kramer said. "It hurts a lot because you come so close and you put in so much time and effort. Sometimes losses can teach you just as much. Sometimes how you act after a loss really tells you how you are as a person and who you are as a team."I hope (Rombach) would say the same thing about us. I look forward to the rivalry in the future."The teams split the first two sets with the third set swinging momentum squarely in favor of whoever came out on top.The Cardinals (25-4) raced out to a fast start in the set. They were up 3-0, 4-1, and 5-3 before scoring the next four points to force a timeout. New Bremen still led 17-9 later before Calvert made a run at it.Porter and Shook lined kills before a block by Shook and ace from Kate Coleman brought the Senecas within 19-15. Later, Calvert was down 23-17, but got kills by Shook and Lanicek to slice within 23-20. A kill by Porter and block from Lanicek made it 23-22.A timeout by New Bremen settled the Cardinals. A serving error gave New Bremen set point and Olivia Heitkamp tallied one of her 20 kills to put the Senecas down 2-1."I know Diana's mentality on serving," Rombach said. "She serves very aggressive and they served aggressive at us. They went on runs and when teams go on runs like that, it's difficult to beat."Set 4 had a similar flow, as did the opening set. New Bremen built a big lead and by the time Calvert got its footing in the set and made a run at it, it was too late.In Set 4, the Cardinals used a sprint of seven straight points to go up 15-7. Alivia Dammeyer clobbered back-to-back-to-back kills for the lead.But as they did before, the Senecas kept fighting. Four straight errors by New Bremen helped and kills from Shook and Porter cut the lead to 18-14. An ace by Claire Schoenberger cut the deficit to just two points.But New Bremen showed championship fight and finished strong.Three consecutive kills by Heitkamp made it 21-16 and prompted a timeout. She followed the break with a block. She also added the final two kills of the set, giving the Cardinals the win."(Heitkamp) is a great athlete," Rombach said. "I think our block did well with her. I don't think she got as many kills as she has in other games."New Bremen opened the match strong, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Calvert slowly settled in, but the Cardinals kept coming and built a 22-13 lead.The Senecas gave it a run as Emily Miller put down a kill, Palm tallied an ace, and back-to-back blocks by Lanicek cut the margin to 23-17. Calvert drew as close as 24-22, but Heitkamp's kill put New Bremen up early."I give a lot of credit to Diana and the program she has there," Rombach said. "They were prepared for today. They executed well. They were the better team today than we were. I wish we could play them tomorrow or Tuesday and give it another shot. I think there's a good chance there could be a different outcome."The Senecas answered in Set 2, but it sure didn't come easy. Calvert led early on, opening a 9-6 advantage following an ace by Palm. The Cardinals kept pace and used six straight points to go up 14-10.The Senecas roared back and tied the set at 14. The teams exchanged jabs back and forth before a run of four straight from Calvert put it ahead 21-20. New Bremen responded and went up 24-22 for double set point.Three straight errors by the Cardinals gave Calvert set point. Melina Schrader tied the set at 25 and again at 26 with kills. But, Porter lasered one of her five kills for another set point.Ahead 27-26 and out of subs, Calvert needed freshman Bryn Meyer to serve for just the second time all year. Her rocket nearly went for an ace, but it got New Bremen out of system and a hitting error by Heitkamp knotted the match at a set apiece."Was this Calvert volleyball's best performance to date? No, it was not," Rombach said. "I think there were certain parts of the game that we didn't do our best on. We struggled with serve receive and when you work backwards and you're not getting that first pass up there, it has an effect on everything else from that."Heitkamp - who is headed to Toledo next season - finished with 14 digs to go with her big hitting day. Amelia Dammeyer added 17 digs and 10 kills, Schrader had 40 assists, and Keira Steininger had 19 digs."Lori is amazing. Lori is truly an amazing person," Kramer said. "We have grown very close over the years. Her team was shagging balls today when we were hitting. Every single one of her girls said 'good luck, coach' at the start of the game when her players were announced."Every single girl at the end of the match had their head held high and said 'good game, coach.' That is a class act program."Calvert was led by Lanicek's 13 kills while Shook contributed 10 kills. Olivia Miller tallied 17 assists, Bryn Dircksen had 15 assists, and Palm paced the defense with 15 digs."I'm very proud of everyone on our team," Shook said. "I think we all did a great job welcoming one another. I can truly say I've made some of my best memories this season."Lanicek will play college volleyball at Hillsdale while Palm will play at Findlay and Olivia Miller at Heidelberg. This most likely brings an end to the volleyball careers of Shook and Porter."I'm proud of our team," Lanicek said. "It wasn't the outcome that we wanted. I'm very proud of us. We got here. There's a lot of underclassmen we embraced this year and we wanted to give back to them and show them what it felt like to get here."