Norwalk gets first win at host Invite

NORWALK — A step in the right direction. Norwalk entered its host volleyball Invitational on Saturday with an 0-4 record. But got the monkey off its back before being overwhelmed twice at NHS. The Truckers topped Ontario, 25-21, 25-22 in the quarterfinals before a loss to Tiffin Calvert (25-10, 25-14) in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket, Norwalk fell to Massillon Jackson in two 25-17, 25-7. "Days like this are challenging," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "You come in and take one loss. You come in and take another loss. That's hard and it's frustrating. Volleyball is so mental. I'm hoping for huge mental growth out of this weekend." Norwalk fell to 1-6 overall after the three matches on Saturday. The Truckers host Clyde and Perkins on Tuesday and Thursday in SBC Lake Division matches. "There's not growth that didn't happen in these matches today," Kipp said. "Some of that growth happens in your failures. Growth doesn't just happen in success. It happens in failures. You have to be willing to grow through that messy process." Against Division IV powerhouse Calvert (7-1), the teams split the first eight points in Set 1 before the Senecas won nine straight points to open the first sizable lead of the match. Norwalk got a kill to stop the run, but Calvert was relentless. An ace by Olivia Miller pushed the lead to 19-7, forcing Kipp into a timeout. Lucy Schlotterer tallied a pair of kills, but it was tough go with too many errors for the Truckers. A serving error gave Calvert the first set. "Calvert has a lot of experience on their floor and we struggled to adjust a little bit to the speed of the game," Kipp said. "We struggled to stay consistent and control the ball on our side of the floor. I think that's normal with the youth we have. We're working through some tough rotations where we're pretty young in front." Norwalk was again able to play even with the Senecas in the second set, but for only so long. Baylee Chapin and Schlotterer each smacked kills with Chapin adding a block and Schlotterer an ace as the teams were tied 9-9. Calvert still only led 12-11 a few points later, but were able to win points in bunches to separate themselves. The Senecas ripped off eight consecutive points to take their lead from 15-12 to 23-12. Schlotterer's kill stopped the run, but another error and kill from Camryn Shook wrapped up the win for Calvert. "Our pregame talk was let's go in and let's take care of business," Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. "Norwalk has gotten a lot better from when we saw them in the summer." Schlotterer finished with eight kills and six digs against Calvert while Ava Tyler tallied 11 assists. Callie Helton also had six digs. "Calvert has two middles that played on a state tournament team against a freshman middle and a freshman outside hitter," Kipp said. "It's a lot faster than either one of those girls had ever seen. I think they are doing a great job trying to adjust to the speed. It's going to get there." Most of the first set against Jackson was very similar to Norwalk's match against Calvert. The Truckers played well in spurts and even led 10-9 before the Golden Bears were able to grind points away. Sydney Moehlman lined a kill for that 10-9 edge, but Jackson slowly turned the tide its way. McKenna Weber had a pair of kills for the Polar Bears — a Div. I regional finalist a year ago — for a 18-14 lead. Chapin put down a kill for Norwalk, but Jackson ended the set on a 7-2 run to seize the early lead. The Truckers got behind early and often in Set 2. The Polar Bears raced out to an 8-2 lead as Kipp used a timeout. Jackson pushed it further to 10-2 before an error got Norwalk on the board. Points were few and far between for the Truckers in the set as Jackson won nine straight for a 22-5 lead. An ace from Kara Hepler gave Jackson the win. Schlotterer paced Norwalk with five kills and five digs with Tyler finishing with nine assists. Mac Wineman had a team-high 10 digs. "We played well in spurts and then we let our inexperience take over," Kipp said. "These kids have to hate losing more than they like to win. Sometimes it's there. It was there (last) Thursday night when we played at Tiffin." Schlotterer had 11 kills against Ontario with Wineman leading the way with 14 digs. Tyler had 22 assists. "We were loud and we played relaxed," Kipp said. "We had a lot of fun and were very consistent. Those are the things we are looking for."