Last blog for the most decorated senior class in Calumet history

It's hard to believe that it's over. Not the Calumet volleyball team of course, but the run of the most accomplished group of players that Calumet has ever seen. Not over because some team dethroned them, but over because of the inevitability of the passage of time. High school girls eventually graduate and move on.

It's normal but it's also a little sad.

However, this team didn't sully their legacy a bit on their way out, completing a successful defense of their Division I national championship at NACA, defeating Heritage Academy of Hagerstown, Maryland in the final. Since some time has past and most of you already now most of the NACA week's events, I won't go into as much detail as I usually do going over the game. You already got the
scores of the pool play matches. As last year, the format was the same to determine the divisions. Their were 24 teams signed up, so their were eight pools of three, with the top team of each moving on to Division I, second to Division II and third to Division III. I had the teams backwards - we actually played Santa Rosa first and Lancaster of Smyrna second. As I noted we easily defeated both and then spent the rest of the day cheering for the other teams to give the top teams good matches so we could seed number one for the third straight year. It came down to the last pool, and the the second place team needed to score 12 points in the last game of their match to give it to us. When it got to 11-10, we thought we had it. Sadly, the losing team decided to give up and that point and their coach apparently did too, never calling a timeout in a closing 14-1 run by the victorious team, relegating us to the second seed. This was more a blow to the pride than an actual obstacle to overcome, and it actually worked out better, allowing us to play different teams throughout bracket play and to play most of the best teams there.

Our first opponent was West Florida, one of whose best players was a seventh-grader. We later found out that she and her sixth-grade sister who played on the JV team were two of the highest ranked beach volleyball players in the age class in the country. This first game was tough on two levels for us; first, Faith was still hobbling from her sprained ankle, and CCS always has problems with early games. We did lead 12-9, but the team was definitely out of sorts, trying to work around Faith's lack of mobility on defense. The offense was still good, but medium-speed spikes that we usually pick up were hitting the floor. CCS had two points in a row that were due to confusion, which almost never happened during the season. There was a little light at the end of the game - at 24-18, WF served one into the net and Ally took over serving. She scored three aces in a row and then scored on a back row kill. A WF net violation and a kill by Taylor put CCS within one of winning. WF did score the next three to win but the momentum was back on the Patriots side. With Taylor serving, CCS ran out to a 7-0 lead in game two and never looked back. WF showed their youth with a lot of mistakes and all of our girls were hitting. This carried through both games two (25-11) and game three (15-4). 

The big change for the second game was the tape job Faith received from the Rhea County High trainer. That was where both of our games were Thursday, and he was engaged to provide trainer services to the teams participating at NACA.  He gave Faith some high-tech treatment, then taped her up more thoroughly than the nurse at NACA had done for the first game. Faith really noted the difference and it showed in her play. The rest of the team was feeling pretty good after their performance in the second and third games of the prior match, and they were ready for Evangel of Virginia, their second-round opponent. After a Lauren kill, however, they dropped the next four points. A Faith kill turned things around and the Patriots scored four in a row of their own. A little bit of point-exchanging, then the girls went on a 9-0 run, with kills from everyone. That was it for that game and the girls ended up winning 25-12. Game two was a little closer, but CCS got the early lead and maintained a comfortable margin throughout, winning 25-17. The highlight was a dramatic block by Lauren and Faith on Evangel's star hitter.

This put us into the semifinals, on Friday. A win here, then a defeat of the team coming out of the loser's bracket and the championship would be ours. The opponent was a homeschool team from Asheville called the Western Carolina Trailblazers. They had two strong players, sisters, one a sophomore and the other a freshman. The girls ended up winning in two straight, but both games were battles. We made more than our usual errors in the first game, and we couldn't pull away, at least early. Finally at 17-16, an Ally kill seemed to light a fire and the girls ran off seven straight, despite a nice kick "kill" by WC. We had seen a couple of kicked ball before, but this one was pretty good because it was a tough reach, and the girl kicked a nice ball over the net. The last point was a kill by Taylor that was set up by a beautiful dig by Faith. In game two, the girls trailed by as much as four (11-7) early, but then WC started making youthful errors and we scored six straight and twelve of the next fourteen. That gave us a six point lead which we maintained right to the end, finishing the 25-19 on a Taylor kill, assisted on a nice set by Holly.

Heritage, a team that came in undefeated, was our opponent in the championship. They had a bad game in the first round of the bracket play, but then had rolled right up to the championship game. They were very good defensively, but their best player was a powerful six-footer. She was complemented by another very good middle, but we had faced teams at least as formidable in the our games against the IHSAA schools. The first game was close throughout. The Patriots never led by more than one, and Heritage never led by more than three. Heritage led 22-20 when Taylor crushed one, then served an ace. After giving up a kill, Faith matched it and they they mishit a kill. 24-23, CCS. After a Heritage dink kill, Holly put one down. Game point again. Heritage then put a block and kill together, giving them game point. They put a serve into the net, we put a kill attempt there. 27-26, Heritage. Faith put one down from the back row and it was tied again. That was it for us, as Heritage tipped one around our block, then scored the game-winning point on a block. 29-27, Heritage.

Our offense was stronger in game two. Faith got loose and Taylor was on. Holly and Ally were ready when their number was called. Taylor started serving strongly and Faith and Holly scored on kills and it was 6-2 Patriots. The score was even for a stretch, as the Patriots alternated kills with errors. At 12-8 Heritage ran off a string of three straight blocks. The stopped themselves with a serving error, but followed that with a kill. Faith and Ally then began exchanging kills with their big hitter until they made a hitting mistage which pushed the Calumet lead to 17-14. Heritage then started creeping up with kills, aces and CCS errors. They took the lead 20-19 on a kill, which Faith matched, but then went back up by one on a dink kill. Faith answered again and then Heritage made a hitting error. Kills by Ally and Holly put Calumet within one of evening up the match, but the girls had to wait through a Heritage kill before Faith finished it on a beautiful left-handed kill on a ball set WAY outside.

That set up game three. If Calumet won, the championship would be ours. If Heritage won, the two teams would play another three game match. At first it wasn't clear which would be the outcome. A lot of errors were committed by both sides. A CCS setting error made it 5-4, but that was pretty much the end of the drama. Kill, Taylor - 6-4. Kill, Taylor - 7-4. Kill, Taylor - 8-4. Net violation, Heritage. 9-4. Crushing hit of an overpass, perhaps her kill of the year, Holly, 10-4. Kill, Taylor - 11-4. Finally Heritage broke the string with dink kill and another kill, but that only delayed the inevitable. Ally scored a kill. 12-6. Then a beautiful block by Taylor. She followed a, if I remember correctly, a poor set that went over the net, and block the ensuing kill attempt, a real heads-up play. Heritage hit one out, Ally got another kill. Appropriately, after the game she had, Taylor got the honor of scoring the last point on a half-kill, half block on tipped ball at the net. The ball hit the ground and it was over.
The awards were then announced, and Calumet scored nearly a clean sweep. Best offensive player - Faith Rohn. Best defensive player - tie, Heritage big star and Jenna Alderden, who played nearly flawless libero the whole week. Best setter - Ally Rohn. All tournament: Ally, Jenna, Faith, Holly and Tayor.

Joy-lief-ness was the sentiment of moment. Joy because the girls earned another championship. Relief because the competition was fierce. Sadness because it was over for Holly, Rebekah, Kassie, Faith, Taylor, Jenna and Katie, as well as Taylor Stas. There seemed to be a lot more tears after the victory this year than last; not as much screaming, but more big smiles. Lots of hugs, especially players with their parents. It was a good choice not to begin the trip back until Saturday, as all the participants seemed to want to linger of the floor, making the moment last as long as possible

A season, and a team, to remember.