Calvert sweeps Mohawk in battle of unbeatens

FOSTORIA – Mohawk needed to take the second set Wednesday night. But it just fell short.As a result, Calvert capitalized on the missed opportunity and powered off with its seventh straight district title.The Senecas swept the previously unbeaten Warriors 25-15, 25-23, 25-11 Division VII district final at Fostoria High School."Certainly, that would've been great. I would've felt a lot better about things for sure," Mohawk coach Eric Hoover asked about needing to win the second set. "If we would've got that it wouldn't of mattered what the score of the other sets were, we would've been tied 1-1. We had an opportunity in the end, but we just didn't make it happen. "I thought we certainly competed a lot better and got more offense going in that set."In the end, Calvert's aggressive serving and side-to-side offense was too much for the Warriors to handle. "Our serving, we did serve aggressive, which was the plan but with that comes the risk of some miss-serves. We had five in that second set, which is a lot of miss-serves for one set," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "But overall we were in the positive in aces to errors, so that's a good thing. "The girls came ready to play and this group of girls loves competition. They were looking forward to this game and they played really well."Calvert (25-0) started well with a 6-2 advantage in the opening set, but then Biz Klopp and the Warriors started to gain some traction closing things to 7-all. But as soon as it was 10-9 in favor of the Senecas, they went on a 7-0 scoring spurt to pull ahead as Hope Waire served up two aces and Karris Marinis hammered a kill. Mohawk pulled within 20-14, but Calvert took over from there as Marinis pounded a kill, Bella Borgio powered down a pair of kills and Claire Schoenberger finished off the set with an ace. Mohawk led the second set early, but then Calvert led the rest of the way, even though it was tight throughout. After a Borgio kill, Calvert led 20-15, but Mohawk got within 22-21 later in the set after a Trenna Johnson ace. However, Calvert's Waire and Marinis responded with kills, but Mohawk battled back to get within 24-23, but it wasn't enough.Mohawk had a glimmer of momentum there at the end of the second set, but losing it that closely was tough to overcome."I think I held my timeouts close to the end and I wasn't going to let another point go by if we didn't get that sideout at 23 I was taking a timeout or a sub there," Rombach said about the ending of the second set."Mohawk showed some life early in the third set with a 4-2 advantage, but Calvert just slowly began to pull away and at one point led the set 20-10 after an Avery Elchert ace. Borgio finished off the Warriors with her 13th kill of the night."We tried to go pin-to-pin to try to make Klopp work and to keep it from out in front of her because she's a fantastic player," Rombach said. "She's a great blocker, so when you go pin-to-pin that gives you the best chance to get something by her. I thought Megan (Rombach) did a great job of making the outside hitter's job easier. Because if she's doing that on the outside, then the middle has a hold on (Klopp) and a lot of times Bella was one-on-one, and if you leave Bella Borgio one-on-one it's not going to be pretty (for the opponent)."Backing Borgio for the Senecas were Emily Miller with 10 kills and three blocks, Marinis with six kills and three blocks, Waire with five kills, two aces, two blocks and three digs, Rombach added five kills, Bryn Dircksen collected 32 assists, three kills and six digs, Kate Coleman produced three aces and 11 digs, Gracie Miller had two aces and seven digs, Elchert ended with two aces and nine digs and Schoenberger finished with eight digs.For Mohawk, Klopp finished with 13 kills and five digs, while Chloe Miller added five kills, Johnson produced three kills and an ace, Caitlin Ogg finished with two kills, 16 assists and 12 digs, Aubrey Gottfried dished two assists, Allison Russell tallied 12 digs and Averie Barth made three digs.Next up for the Senecas is Leipsic (24-1) in a regional semifinal at Lakota October 31 at 8 p.m.For the Warriors, they don't get a chance to bounce back after this loss until next fall. But with another unbeaten regular season and N10 title in hand, it was another successful season."We lose perspective some times of the things we have done because we have such high expectations. Most teams would kill to get 24 wins and be thrilled with it … and here we are a little disappointed," Hoover said. "There's a lot to be proud of and nothing to be ashamed of. The seniors have done a great job. Four of the six of them waited their turn. They came out and had an outstanding year. I'm very proud of them."