It's Miller Time!

When asked about when the last time all four Miller daughters played volleyball at the same place at the same time, Heidelberg volleyball coach Jason Miller had to think about it. After a pause, he did remember Hannah's senior year (at Calvert) where Miller coached a club volleyball tournament up at Cedar Point where he had all four of his daughters on his team. That's the only time it happened. Until Monday night.The usual Columbian-Calvert volleyball matchup will look a little different this year as the two will play at Heidelberg University's Hoernemann Stadium, but then the Student Princes will take on the University of Findlay in the nightcap under the lights.After Calvert coach Lori Rombach approached Miller about trying to find a net and a court to play an outside match, Miller thought about the possibility of playing on HU's football field. Miller said Findlay was scheduled to visit 'Berg this year anyway, so after asking UF coach Wick Colchagoff about it, the matchup was set.The high school matchup will begin with JV at 5:30 p.m., followed by the high school match and then the college matchup at 8 p.m. Along with volleyball, the Spike Night money raised Monday night will all go toward FACT (Financial Aid for Cancer Treatment) of Seneca County. There will be food trucks, concessions stands, a t-shirt sale, bake sale, basket raffle, a dash for cash and a 50/50 drawing. It is $8 for adults and all students get in free. Cash only sales at the gate and no passes will be accepted."I lost my father to cancer, I also lost my mother-in-law to cancer, so for us … I was at the (Tiffin) Honor Games last year because my daughter (Gracie) played (softball) and I loved what they did. In my head, this will sort of be the same thing. The idea is that the Tiffin community does come out and support because we all have people that have been affected by cancer. "The awesome part is that everything stays local. It helps our people, it helps the Seneca County people and we're hoping that it will be a celebration of a lot of different things, but hopefully people come out and support and enjoy watching a fun volleyball game."One thing is for sure Monday; it's one of the few times the Miller family will not have to travel far to see all four daughters play volleyball.For Calvert, Emily (senior) and Gracie (sophomore) will take on Columbian, and then coach Miller will have his daughter Olivia (sophomore) take on oldest daughter Hannah (junior) on Findlay. Jason Miller has been the head coach for 'Berg for 26 seasons and has tallied over 500 wins for the Student Princes. However, none of the 500 wins includes a win over his daughter. 'Berg traveled to Findlay last season and the Oilers swept HU 25-22, 25-17, 25-13 as Hannah slammed nine kills and Olivia had 13 assists for 'Berg."You know Hannah actually struggled with it (last year), Don't get me wrong … she wanted to win for sure, there was no doubt she wanted to win, but she also didn't want dad to lose," coach Miller said. "So, she did struggle with it last year. Now, Findlay is really good. They're a top 25 team this year, so we'll have to play well just to compete, but it was a proud moment as a parent to see your oldest out there playing and playing well and then coaching the other one. So, it'll be a fun family night for sure. It'll be a night we'll remember forever."Within the Miller family dynamic, being a volleyball coach is just a part-time job, while being a dad is a full-time gig. Coaching his daughters, and especially Olivia in college, coach Miller has to remind himself at certain points when to be a coach and when to be a father. A skill that needed fine-tuning."You know I had to learn how to shut it off, especially at the high school level watching my girls," he said. "There was a time where they would look to me because I was their only coach. I was the only person that coached them all the way through, so now I try to sit up there and shut it off and go. Because as a coach, I'm always looking at things from a coach's perspective. "But I realized: 'Why am I doing this? So why was I doing that instead of oh, hey that was a great hit you know?' I started missing those points and those things to just be happy for their success. So that's something I've had to learn to do. There still are times like (Wednesday night) with Olivia when I thought she made a couple decisions that I wasn't happy with, so I called a timeout, pulled her over and for a moment there it was dad instead of coach. Because dad is disappointed in the decisions she made rather than me just saying: 'Hey, this is what I need from you.' So still sometimes it's hard."He did say for the most part, he's been able to separate the different hats he wears throughout a day. When Olivia hangs out in his coaching office she tells him: 'I don't need coach right now, I need dad.'"When we go home if they want to talk volleyball, we'll talk volleyball, but if they don't ask, it's not something I push," coach Miller said. "From Day 1 I never told them they have to go to the gym. If they want to go to the gym, we'll go, or if they wanted to watch film, we'll watch film. We'll do things that they want to do, rather than me pushing them to do something they didn't want to do. I just felt like if they wanted to be successful that they needed that intrinsic drive."That intrinsic drive has had a big impact on why Calvert is 13-0 this season, while 'Berg is 9-4 (at the time this is published) and UF is ranked No. 25 in the country in Division II at 5-1.Even though Coach Miller knows one of Findlay's main hitters awfully well, there are other really good players to try to contain, including Calvert alums Emma White (senior) and Cecilia Palm (sophomore)."I haven't been able to watch them live yet because of scheduling, but from what I've seen on TV they certainly do a lot of things we're gonna have to try to slow down," coach Miller said. "One thing is their offense for sure. You look at the offensive categories statistically, they're tops in the nation in D2 in some of those categories, so for us we're gonna have to be really aggressive with our serve and try to get them out of system and try to get them to play a little more predictable."Obviously I know Hannah hits outside, but they have other really good hitters as well on the outside and the middle. We'll have to figure things out as we go, but I don't want to over-analyze it either. I probably know what they're going to do as much as I've watched them, but I don't want my players out there also trying to think versus just playing."At the end of the day, Monday is all about the celebration of volleyball locally, raising money for a good cause and giving the players and fans an experience they'll never forget, coach Miller said. "I want to be able to look at the players from Calvert and Columbian and to look at players from Heidelberg and Findlay and know this was a great experience," he said. "I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a huge out-poor from the Tiffin and Seneca County community coming in and supporting this event. I'm looking forward to people enjoying the evening and leave thinking about all the good that we've done."