Calvert sweeps Monroeville for state title

FAIRBORN — From the very start. The Monroeville volleyball team knew what it was up against entering Saturday's Division VII state championship against Tiffin Calvert. The Senecas were the No. 1-ranked team in the state coaches poll and were a perfect 28-0 with dominant wins over many high-caliber opponents, including Div. III powerhouses. They had lost just four sets all season prior to the championship match inside the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University. But once Calvert got an easy kill and an ace to open the match, the No. 5-ranked Eagles faced trouble. Other than a few brief stretches, it was all in favor of the Senecas from there in a three-set sweep with scores of 25-13, 25-9, and 25-11. The Senecas (29-0) earned their first state championship since the 2020 season after finishing runner-up in each of the previous two seasons. Monroeville closes at 25-3 overall and is state runner-up for a second time in program history (2022). The Eagles entered the match with a 23-match win streak of their own. "The girls were battle-tested and played hard," Monroeville head coach Kendra Snook said. "I don't think we were super sharp today, and we came in a little bit intimidated, and I'm not sure why. "But Calvert is a great team, and were ranked No. 1 in the state for a reason. I couldn't be more proud that my kids were playing on the last day of the season, and they are one of two Monroeville teams to have that honor." Emily Miller opened Saturday's match with a kill off a well-set ball from Bryn Dirkcsen, who then stepped back to the service line and landed the first of 14 aces in the match for Calvert. The lead quickly grew to 5-0 after kills by Miller and Megan Rombach sandwiched a Monroeville hitting error. Ady Adams scored for the Eagles on a kill to cut the margin to 6-2, only for the Senecas to score the next five points on two blocks, a kill, an ace, and a hitting error on the Eagles. Monroeville was able to get a bit of momentum on an ace from Ady Adams, followed by an error on the Senecas and a kill by Madi Reiber. Another attack error on Calvert made it 13-9, but then the Senecas found another momentum shift. Miller and Karris Marinis put down consecutive kills, then Hope Waire served an ace to make it 16-9. A kill by Riley Platte off an assist from Addison Lyons made it a 16-10 deficit, but the Senecas kept coming. Calvert scored eight of the next nine points, which included six kills, to open up a commanding 24-11 lead. The Eagles got a couple of points back on a service error and a block assist by Alexa Adams, but Bella Borgio finished off the 25-13 win with a kill off a Monroeville block. In the second set, Calvert dominated. It was 5-5 early in the set after Ady Adams again came through with a kill. But from there, Calvert rolled to 20 of the next 24 points to simply overwhelm the Eagles. The most notable stretch came when Borgio served six aces as part of an 11-0 scoring run, and she added a kill for good measure. Emily Miller also had two kills in the run. By the time the Eagles got a kill from Reiber, it was a 16-6 deficit. The set ended at 25-9 on a service ace by libero Claire Schoenberger. "It wasn't their attack, it was great, but we couldn't get in system on serve receive," Snook said. "When we're giving a team like that a bunch of free balls, it is going to be a struggle. I thought we got a bunch of touches with our block. "There were three or four great rallies where we shut them down and were able to do that, but it started with our first contact, and it wasn't very sharp today," she added. "Against a team like that, it's going to have to be sharp in order to compete. The game plan was to win the serve and serve-receive game, and we obviously didn't do that." The third set was again tied at 5-5 early, only for the Senecas to pull away. Two straight Monroeville errors aided their cause, then the Senecas got two straight kills and an ace by Borgio for a 10-6 lead. The Eagles tripped it to 11-9 after a pair of kills by Reiber, but then Calvert went on another huge run. The Senecas scored eight consecutive points to open up a 19-9 lead as Miller was everywhere at the net. She had four kills in the run, and Dircksen served an ace. Reiber stopped the run with a kill (20-10), only for the Senecas to score the next four points, highlighted by a kill from Emily Miller and an ace from Gracie Miller. Leading 24-11 after a service error on the Eagles, Calvert clinched the state title off a kill by Marinis. "We did it; we finished after two years of coming in second," Calvert head coach Lori Rombach said. "That's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, and we know that feeling. We started the season not talking about it but understanding we're ready to finish things. "We had a group of three seniors that led us day in, day out, even on a Tuesday when it meant nothing," she added. "These girls were showing up and running practices and creating energy. So when you do that and then show up on a Saturday and it means something, we're relaxed and ready to go. And I think that's what we saw today, a team that was relaxed and ready to go." Emily Miller had 13 kills, and Borgio had 12 for Calvert. She also had 15 digs and served seven aces, while Schoenberger had 16 digs and Dircksen finished with 33 assists. For Monroeville, Reiber had eight kills and Ady Adams had three. The Senecas limited the Eagles to 14 kills for the match. Lyons had seven assists and eight digs, while Addison Homan led the team with 12 digs. The Eagles had six seniors who bookended their careers with the only two appearances in the state title match in program history. That group includes Ady and Alexa Adams, Reiber, Lyons, Rachel Fries, and Maddy Miller. Over four seasons, Monroeville went 91-17 overall. That included a 55-1 mark in the Firelands Conference with four league titles, three district championships, two regional titles, and state runner-up trophies. "Those six have done a lot for the program," Snook said. "We've had a lot of really good teams come through Monroeville, but this is the only group to win conference all four years. They've just continued to get better, and they've been great leaders to the players behind them, from Addison to Kaci (Poths) at setter or Madi leading with Riley. "All these kids who look up to these seniors and their accomplishments. There were a lot of expectations and pressure to get to this point with this senior class being here as freshmen. Starting the season 2-2 and bouncing back and being here today is pretty impressive."