Senecas grind past Vikings in regional semi

KANSAS – After an opening set win for Calvert over Leipsic in a Division VII regional semifinal at Lakota High Thursday night, something changed. Leipsic began playing with more confidence and had the unbeaten Senecas scratching their heads in the second set. Calvert did battle back to prolong the second set, but the Vikings took it and led 10-5 to start the third set. While the Vikings had the Senecas on their heels, after a timeout by coach Lori Rombach, Calvert came out on a mission. Behind an aggressive serving night for everyone, but especially with freshman Gracie Miller's three-straight aces, it jump-started a Calvert rally. Then the real Senecas showed up to finish off the pesky Vikings 25-18, 27-29, 25-17, 25-17."Tonight was a grind," Rombach said as her team improved to 26-0 and will play New Knoxville (16-10) in a regional final back at Lakota Saturday at 2 p.m. "I'm so proud of this team for grinding it out. Midway through that third set Gracie went on a run there and lit a spark in us. We started to loosen up and this team plays the best when they are loosened up and they started playing team ball."The coaches and I were talking, and we said this is what we were waiting for. It took midway through that third set until we played our type of volleyball."Leipsic (24-2) kept things relatively close in the opening set, but it never really threatened the Senecas. Leipsic got within 20-18 after a Brookelyn Cunningham ace, but that's the closest the Vikings got. The third set was close in the beginning, but Leipsic began feeding the ball to junior hitter Danaysia Danzy and Calvert had no answer for her. She finished with a team-high 22 kills, while also tallying 13 digs and three aces in a stellar performance. She lifted the Vikings up in the second set as they led Calvert 17-11 and 19-13 before the Senecas responded and tied things at 24-all. After going back and forth, the Vikings pulled out an emotional second set. "We felt pretty good after that second set and we even led 12-6 at one point in that third set, but then their serving game got hot and it's hard to get any offense going off of great serves," Leipsic coach Brent Newell said. "It got us out of system there, and then they got their offense going then."Leipsic was rolling in the beginning stages of the third set and had Calvert out of sorts. But just when the Vikings thought they had an edge, Calvert shut the door as a Megan Rombach block, three straight Gracie Miller aces and consecutive Bella Borgio kills got Calvert even with Leipsic 12-all. From there, Leipsic certainly didn't make it easy, but Calvert began to pull away."On the bench the coaches and I were talking … these girls are young," Rombach said. "All but a couple of them, this is the first time they've played in this type of a situation, so it's asking a lot for young girls. We have freshman and sophomores out there. They stepped up tonight."Our juniors on the team stepped up and led. Bryn Dircksen running our offense … her offensive game tonight was the best I've seen from her all year and that made a big difference."Morgan Apple added nine kills and 10 digs for Leipsic, while Karmyn Brough dished 34 assists, Jadyn Cupp had five kills and three blocks, Jaelynn Siefer recorded 20 digs and two aces and Ava Schroeder ended with three blocks. For the Senecas, Borgio tallied 18 kills, six digs and two aces, followed by Emily Miller with 17 kills and four digs, Hope Waire added eight kills and three blocks, Megan Rombach five kills, two blocks and three digs, Dircksen registered 46 assists and 10 digs, Claire Schoenberger made 30 digs and served up two aces, Gracie Miller had seven aces and five digs, Karris Marinis (4 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs) and Avery Elchert (5 digs) each served up four aces and Kate Coleman finished with two aces and 12 digs.The regional final with New Knoxville will be a rematch as the two played in Elida in 2021."New Knoxville is a good program, there's no doubt about that. We watched them tonight and they have a great balanced offense," Rombach said. "I think we match up well with them and we look forward to competing. We'll come up with a game plan and the girls will give it their best shot."