Norwalk sweeps Edison for third win

NORWALK — Ready to get back at it. After blitzing Edison in the first set Tuesday, a lengthy discussion on if Norwalk was in rotation or not stopped play just five points into Set 2. The Truckers were down in the set already, but came back to quickly seize a lead Norwalk never trailed again the rest of the match, blasting the Chargers, 25-11, 25-15, 25-10, in non-league action at Norwalk High School. "I liked the intensity that we came out with in the first and third set," Norwalk coach Sarah Kipp said. "We came out big in those sets and it showed. I think we talked a lot about coming out of timeouts and winning that next point. It is a huge point to win." The Truckers (3-0) have now won all seven sets they've played after straight-set, best-of-3 wins over Wellington and Western Reserve on Aug. 19. Norwalk won just seven matches last year. Its almost halfway to that mark already. A lot of it comes from the simple concept of having fun. "That's the difference between boys and girls," Kipp said. "Boys win and have fun because they're winning. Girls have to have fun to win. These girls are really focused on making every minute we have together in the gym fun." For Edison (0-1), it is a young roster. More than half of the Chargers — seven of 13 girls listed — are sophomores. "It's going to take some time for them," Edison coach Sean Hoover said. "We do have a lot of sophomore players, but we do have some good older leadership with juniors and seniors. "A lot of these girls played last year as freshmen and even started. We were really young last year." It was the big runs that fueled Norwalk early. The opening set was tied at 3 before the Truckers put a big sprint together. With Lucy Schlotterer serving, Norwalk won 10 consecutive points. Schlotterer is known for her big-blast hitting, but her serve is also strong. She tallied four aces in the 10-point run. "She has a tough serve," said Kipp of the junior. "The thing is she has several different serves. If you asked her to serve a jump-top, she could serve a jump-top. She has a nice hard jump float that will beam right at kids." The run to go up 13-3 proved to be the difference in Set 1. Norwalk extended the lead to 18-7 on a kill by Schlotterer and later to 23-11 on her fifth kill. A four-hit error by the Chargers and kill by Sammi Chappell finished the set for Norwalk. "Norwalk did a great job defensively," Hoover said. "They picked up a lot of stuff. Our passing just wasn't consistent enough. I thought especially early, when we got good passes, we got a lot of kills." In Set 2, Edison started strong with a 4-1 advantage before the delay. The Truckers rallied and went up 10-7 at one point. The Chargers were able to show life and battled back, tying the match at 11 on a kill from Jorja Byington. Norwalk dominated the rest of the set. The Truckers were able to win points in bunches to slowly pull away. Schlotterer tallied a pair of kills to make it 17-13 before she and Bella Hernandez combined on a block to extend the lead. Schlotterer blasted two more kills while Hernandez smacked one to take a commanding lead on the match. "Our girls had a minute to think about coming out and being down 4-1 and not coming out the way we wanted to," Kipp said. "They were firing on all cylinders at that point for the set of the set." Norwalk faced little resistance in the third setting, winning the first five points of the set that included two aces by freshman Sawyer Wineman. A serving error stopped the run and Karin Wlodarsky smacked a kill for Edison, but a service error by the Chargers gave the ball and serve right back to the Truckers. It was one of a handful of serving errors by the Chargers that just seemed to come at the worst times. "They're going to happen," Hoover said. "They might have just happened at bad times. We were a little nervous today. Norwalk played Saturday and played twice already. They're used to the game atmosphere. We had a few girls playing varsity for the first time and even starting for the first time." Norwalk on the other hand kept on trucking. Schlotterer went back-to-back on kills to make it 10-5. Ahead just 12-8 later, the Truckers registered six straight points to blow the set open. From there, freshman Emma Gebhardt laid the smack down to finish the match. She popped four kills in a seven-point stretch for Norwalk to finish off the outstanding performance by the Truckers. "I think as any coach would, finishing strong is still something we have to work on," Kipp said. "I think when we get into matches in the (Sandusky Bay Conference) Lake (Division), it is going to be tough. There's so many teams that are bringing so many different people back. We can't afford to come out and not play from the get-go." Wlodarsky finished with 15 digs and nine kills for Edison while Ella Habeck smacked six kills. Paige McFadden led the Chargers with 11 assists and Taylor Wlodarsky added eight digs, six assists, and three kills. "If we serve receive better, we can get out of those runs," Hoover said. "There's no reason when their best hitter is in the back row to give up 10 (straight) points." Schlotterer tallied 14 kills and two blocks for Norwalk. She also had 111 digs. Gebhardt's late run allowed her to finish with 10 kills while Sydney Moehlman added five kills. Chappell registered four kills and three blocks. Ava Tyler had 24 assists and Skylar Cassidy had 10. Mac Wineman added 11 digs for Norwalk, which is off until a road visit on Saturday at Danbury.