TIFFIN (Crawford County Now) — A rekindled rivalry between Mohawk and Calvert set the stage for a new chapter of difficulty for the Warriors in volleyball.
The Senecas, who haven’t lost a league match since 2018 proved why they are the best no matter who is on the other side of the net.
Calvert came out and swept one of the best in the previous version of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference in three sets — 25-10, 25-13, and 25-10 in West Division action.
“I don’t think anyone understands just how good Calvert actually is,” Mohawk coach Eric Hoover said. “On all levels, regardless of who we play in the state of Ohio, they are good. We didn’t do enough good things and do what we needed to do.”
Bella Borgio and Gracie Miller led Calvert (6-0, 2-0) on the night.
“The great thing about our team is that we have Bella and Gracie on the outside,” Calvert coach Lori Rombach said. “We also have Carly (Bagent) and Hope (Waire) in the middle with Megan (Rombach) on the outside. We have attackers coming from all sides.”
Mohawk (6-1, 2-1) couldn’t stop what Calvert was serving. The Warriors tried to keep the Senecas out of their system, but the outside percentages prohibited any run that Mohawk could have thrown at them.
“There are things you just can’t emulate in practice,” Hoover said. “We can’t hit it like that. We can’t serve it like Gracie can. You can’t practice for something like that. Twenty years ago, maybe I could have, but not today. I thought we did better handling her serve as the night went on as we got to practice it, but we have to figure out some way to emulate that so we can get better.”
The second set was the shining moment for Mohawk as Mara Haynes had a kill, bringing it 22-11, followed by Mara Lease, with a tip over the net, making it 22-12.
Defensively for the Warriors, Haynes was the main blocker. She had three digs, three kills, and one block. During the third set, Miller had spiked a return, but Haynes blocked it, giving Mohawk their third point of the set.
For the Warriors, the star was Chloe Miller, who was doing her best to neutralize Borgio.
“We have a lot of good players,” Hoover said. “Chloe did the best scoring for us offensively. She got aggressive, and that showed.”
Chloe Miller had five kills and one dig. Reese Hoover led in the assists for the Warriors with 10 and Mallory Brickner had six digs.
Mohawk will host Upper Sandusky (1-4, 0-3) Thursday. Calvert travels to Old Fort (5-0, 3-0) for a battle of the undefeateds.
“I told the girls that this game doesn’t change who we are,” Hoover said. “We are a better team. We are within the top 10 for Division VI, and it is what it is. It doesn’t change who we are. They (Calvert) can do what they are, and we will do what we do. We are still a good volleyball team.”