Focused Norwalk sweeps New London

NORWALK — Focused and efficient. On a night that may not have been the easiest, the Norwalk volleyball team took care of business Tuesday night. Coming off its first loss of the season in the finals of its host Invitational on Aug. 31, the Truckers swept visiting New London in three sets. Norwalk (8-1) posted scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-8 to drop the Wildcats to 3-4 overall. The match came hours after word reached NHS about the death of a student on his way to school. Logan Lewis, a junior, was killed in a car accident in the morning. "The kids came in after a tough day, and the gym felt a little different tonight," Norwalk head coach Sarah Kipp said. "It was a little somber and reserved. But our kids focused in and took care of business. "They did a nice job and did some really nice things. We also did some things that we talked about growing through. But at the end of the night, they set a goal for the third set and took care of it." Norwalk — coming off a two-set loss to Division I power Massillon Jackson — had plenty of balance to go around in Tuesday's win. Lucy Schlotterer finished with 12 kills and nine digs, and Maddie Gamble had 10 kills, eight digs and two block assists. Emily Tyler finished with 25 assists, while Mac Wineman led the defense with 17 digs and sibling Sawyer Wineman was close behind with 16 digs. "I thought Maddie played very well and had a nice night," Kipp said. "And Mac and Sawyer did a very nice job in the back row. They lead us back there." Up next for Norwalk is five consecutive SBC Lake Division matches in its attempt to repeat as league champions. That starts on Thursday with a trip to Sandusky. Next week, Norwalk hosts Clyde on Sept. 12 and Tiffin Columbian on Sept. 19 before visiting Perkins (Sept. 24) and Bellevue (Sept. 26). The Tornadoes shared the league title with Norwalk last season. That stretch is capped by a try-match at Shelby that includes Lexington in a rematch of last season's district title match won by Norwalk. "We've spent the first part of our season preparing and getting better at the things we want to work on," Kipp said. "We're going to play our match on Thursday and continue to focus on playing with good energy all the time and controlling our side of the floor. "We're going to take that into the following week and see where we go from there," she added. "We've got a nice schedule to round out going into tournament time. There are still some things to improve on and we're going to keep working on them." New London, which hosts Crestview in a Firelands Conference match on Thursday, got six kills from Gracie Thomas. Ava Ringler finished with 12 digs and Madison Rowland added 10, while Brooke Clouse finished with two solo blocks. Tuesday's match also served as a fundraiser for the Huron County Humane Society. Kipp said on top of the back of her car being fully loaded with dog and cat food, cleaners and other items, the donations totaled about $1,400. "We're thankful both communities came out and supported a good cause," she said.