Warriors, Senecas prepare for district title showdown

Despite not playing each other since the district final back in 2018 at Fostoria, being only nine miles and 14 minutes apart … Calvert and Mohawk know each other quite well.There also was the scrimmage with each other and Fort Loramie before this season, but considering Calvert has a whole different look and Mohawk's Biz Klopp was injured for a lot of the scrimmage, neither coach can really draw from it. The two titans in Division VII are both 24-0 this season. One will move on while the other suffers their only defeat of the season and goes home packing. Such is the nature of the tournament. Such high stakes for a district final.The two will play again for a district title tonight at Fostoria, beginning at 6 p.m. "I mean, I'd like to just sit back as a fan and come watch this game because it's going to be very exciting and it's truly a testament of how good the volleyball is in this area," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "I mean it's not an Eric Hoover thing, it's not a Lori Rombach thing … it's truly much bigger than that. "We have several great volleyball clubs in our area that these girls have played on since they were little girls and it's exciting to compete against teams like this because it's a rivalry. The girls know the girls across the net and they know us across the net. It's going to be exciting to see."Both teams have only so many non-league games to schedule as the SBC River plays 18 league games and the N10 has 14, and those non-league games are usually bigger schools for different competition. But the two programs have been ranked in the top 5 in the state this whole season and are two of the powers in northwest Ohio, especially with Calvert's two state titles since 2018."As far as the tournament, there's lots of good teams that get knocked out early as the MAC has been dealing with that for like 50 years now," Hoover said. "You know, it's unfortunate, but it's a good thing to have such good volleyball in this area. It might come back to bite you come this time of the year, but I think if we knew we would see them in the tournament, we probably wouldn't schedule them during the regular season, so we usually schedule bigger divisions and try to see some teams with more size or something we don't see on a regular basis."Both have conquered every opponent this season as both won league titles again and Mohawk had wins over Columbian, Clyde and previously unbeaten Monroeville, while Calvert topped Columbian, Liberty-Benton, Toledo St. Ursula and Fremont Ross.A big reason for the Warriors' success has been the stellar play of 6-foot-1 junior Biz Klopp. The defending N10 player of the year, picked up where she left off last season as she now has 491 kills this season and picked up her 1,000th career kill a few matches ago. While the Warriors certainly have other options, the Senecas' clear focus is on Klopp in the middle."We've watched her. We've scouted her. Several of our girls have played against her and I mean there's no way to take Klopp out of the equation because she's such a great player," Rombach said. "I'm sure she will make a difference tomorrow night, but it's our job as coaches to try to contain her and not allow her to take over the match and to go on three-, four- or five-point runs. That's what really changes the trajectory of a set is that player going on those runs."But they do have three other girls that have over 100 kills on the season, so to overlook Trenna (Johnson), Chloe (Miller) and Jayla (Huffman) is silly. We can't just have five girls on Biz and forget about the rest."It's a bit of a different story for the Senecas. They have two players over 200 kills (Bella Borgio and Emily Miller) and three others over 100 (Karris Marinis, Megan Rombach and Hope Waire). Setter Bryn Dircksen just recorded her 1,000th career assist Monday as a sophomore."They're so athletic and they don't make a lot of mistakes. They got a lot of girls that are gonna hit the ball hard and they're very good leapers as well, but what I think may get overlooked is how well they handle the ball and get the ball into position to hit it," Hoover said. "Their serve receive is very, very good. We have to do a good job blocking at the net and get touches on their hits so we can slow them down a bit and give our back row a chance."From a fan's perspective, it's a shame these two are playing already, but as competitors the saying goes: 'You have to beat the best to be the best.'"If the people that organize these things had a crystal ball you know maybe they would want this down at the Nutter Center, but in the end if you want to go the distance you have to beat the best, whether it's at districts, regionals or state," Rombach said. "But there's a lot of volleyball from here and state anyhow, so whoever wins tomorrow night, it's not a golden ticket to Dayton. I'm just grateful for the chance to play a team like Mohawk and against a coach like Eric. It's going to be unfortunate for whoever ends up losing as their season ends, but that's the way competition is."