Tornadoes rally for five-set win over Norwalk

TIFFIN — The two best teams in the SBC Lake left it all on the volleyball court Tuesday night. For the first hour, Norwalk had things under control with a 2-0 lead at Tiffin Columbian. But in a wild 36-34 win in Set 3 for the Tornadoes, it was tough for the state-ranked Truckers to respond. Columbian grabbed a 17-25, 23-25, 36-34, 25-17, 15-8 victory, clinching at least a share of the SBC Lake title for the Tornadoes. "You have to give credit to Tiffin. In the third, fourth and fifth set they controlled the tempo," Norwalk head coach Sarah Kipp said. "We were out of system there … you have to give credit to Ella (Kerschner) and Kaela (Jenkins) defensively they kept the ball off the floor. It was a big difference in the ball game." Norwalk (17-3, 7-2 SBC Lake) — ranked No. 9 in the Division III state coaches poll — had things under control after a win in Set 1. It had to hold off the Tornadoes in the second set. The match was tight throughout, but Norwalk led for most of the first two sets. Norwalk senior Lucy Schlotterer got going early with seven kills and a block in the first two sets.Even into the third set the Truckers led 13-12 and then 14-13 before TC (16-5, 8-1) started making things a little more difficult. The Tornadoes led 22-17 in Set 3, but Norwalk battled back to tie things at 25-all. Then the two heavyweights slugged each other back and forth as Schlotterer and Jenkins – the two No. 15s – went kill for kill. Finally after it was tied at 34, TC's Abby Lewis smacked a kill and then Kerschner — the lone TC senior on senior night — helped the Tornadoes fend off the Truckers with a block to end the third set. "I think when you have two teams battling it out for conference titles and things, that's what you want it to be," Kipp said about the wild 36-34 third set. "Unfortunately, we couldn't keep the ball under control." After that set, it was going to take a Herculean effort to get back up to fight off a confident Tornado group and the raucous crowd to the end. TC controlled things in the last two sets and even ran away with things in the fifth getting out to a commanding 13-4 advantage behind Jenkins, who buried 29 kills Tuesday night. Despite the loss, TC has to travel to Clyde Thursday to try to win the title outright, while Perkins visits Norwalk. Still a glimmer of hope for the Truckers. "It's a tough environment over at Clyde and we'll kind of sit back and see what happens there, but we gotta refocus," Kipp said. "Perkins comes to us Thursday and I say it always about the SBC, but you never get to take a night off in this league. You don't. "It's tough team after tough team. It's an honor to play in such a competitive conference."