Isabelle Hoying dials in on an incoming serve during the Division VII State Volleyball Final against Tiffin Calvert. The Redskins were eliminated in straight sets as the Senecas earned their second title in as many years. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Tiffin Calvert swept the Redskins and capped its second straight Division VII championship with what its coach said was its best performance of a second straight unbeaten season.
Fairborn, OH – Two years ago, Fort Loramie seniors Tessa Boerger, Charleigh Albers and Corynn Hoelscher were junior varsity players sitting on the bench at the state volleyball tournament.
They were cheerleaders more than players.
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They watched Victoria Mescher and Avery Brandewie lead the Redskins to a Division VII state championship victory over Tiffin Calvert in straight sets in head coach John Rodgers’ final game.
“It really inspired us for sure,” Albers said. “We saw their hard work, their drive, the amount of effort they put in every single day, and I feel like that just really inspired us to get here today.”
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Fast forward to Friday night at the Wright State Nutter Center and the opponent was the same. But in name only.
This Calvert team is a force of nature.
And Loramie couldn’t tame the Senecas’ storm, falling in straight sets 25-14, 25-5, 25-14.
“As the game went on, Calvert definitely heated up, and we kind of fell back into our old habits, and we weren’t handling it the way that we wanted to,” Boerger said. “Obviously, they’re a great team. They serve well, pass well, swing hard, and everything was clicking for them on all parts. And, obviously, it wasn’t for us.”
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The Senecas play fast. They hit harder at the net, from the back line and the service line than any team in the smaller divisions. Defensively, they handled spike after spike, tip after tip and serve after serve. And they don’t rely on any one player to do any one thing.
Chloe Bruns goes for a kill against Calvart but is denied at the net by Gracie Miller.
“They took us out of our serve and pass game,” Loramie coach Kelly Hoying said. “We usually do a really good job of passing the ball to our target from the serve-receive line, and tonight we really just couldn’t find that groove.”
Calvert served 13 aces, and seven of them came from junior Gracie Miller. Her jump serve and top spin, even when handled, didn’t often result in a spike from where the Redskins wanted to hit. Their hitters didn’t get as many point-blank opportunities as they are used to.
Miller’s serve was intimidating. Her high toss – enough altitude to hit the scoreboard that hangs above the middle of the court – had a slow-motion feel to it. Then her swing and velocity hurtled the ball across the net like a missile. In the second set, she served four consecutive aces to put the Redskins in a 6-1 hole.
“We don’t really see top spins around this area, but we knew she was going to come into this game hard,” Hoelscher said. “She’s always had a hard serve. We saw it this summer. When you’re back there, you just have to step up and just pass the ball. You don’t have to do much besides let it hit your arms and hope that it goes up.”
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Miller never comes off the court. Her position is defensive specialist, and she played it well with 18 digs and lots of good first passes to the setter. But at 5-foot-8 she is also a formidable hitter from the outside, when the rotation puts her in the front row, and from the 10-foot line, when she’s in the back row. She was second on the team with 10 kills.
Addie Barhorst and Tessa Boerger track the deflection after Boerger saved the incoming serve with a pancake.
In the postgame interview area, Calvert coach Lori Rombach was joined by her five seniors. Miller was conspicuous by her absence.
“Every one of us up here would acknowledge that Gracie’s an all-in player,” Rombach said. “Give Gracie a wall to run through and she’s going to run through it.”
Calvert’s seniors remembered losing to Loramie in the state final when they were sophomores.
Calvert’s Bella Borgio led all scorers with 18 kills on the night.
“That’s the last team that we’ve ever lost to in our careers,” senior hitter Bella Borgio said. “Going in, a word that we kept on coming back to is revenge. I definitely think that stirred a little bit of anger that we played with, and that showed.”
Borgio led Calvert with 18 kills, Hope Waire had seven and Carly Bagent six. As a team their attack percentage was .308 compared to Loramie’s .029.
“We got the most out of every girl on the court tonight,” Rombach said. “They waited until the 29th game of the season to play their best game, and that’s what they did tonight.”
The Senecas went unbeaten last year to win state. This year’s 29-0 record pushed their winning streak to 58. Even more remarkable is that the Senecas didn’t lose a set this season.
“I’m starting to let myself really think about how we went undefeated and we didn’t lose a set with a team that was really good,” Rombach said. “And it feels good to be able to say that now and really give them that credit because I felt like all season I was trying to keep their heads on straight.”
Corynn Hoelscher battles with Calvert defenders Gracie Miller and Hope Waire.
Fort Loramie girls are used to winning at the state level in volleyball and basketball. But they don’t take it for granted.
“It’s really hard to get here – it’s really mental,” Hoying said. “They battled like crazy and have just been battle tested like crazy.”
The Senecas celebrate at the net after they make quick work of the Redskins, 25-14, 25-5, 25-14 to earn back-to-back state titles. The last team to beat them in the finals? Fort Loramie in 2024.
The Redskins credited the difficult tournament path they traveled. They needed five sets to beat Kalida in the region semifinals, five sets to beat Russia in the region final and overcame an opening 9-1 deficit to beat Newark Catholic in straight sets in the state semifinals.
But every year the teams are different, the leaders are different and the emotions run deep.
“I felt really grateful to be here at Wright State,” Albers said, pausing to compose herself. “It was a fun ride.”
All the way from the bench as a JV to being senior leaders who led the Redskins to an eighth straight league title and a 19th straight district title. The seniors were part of a 97-16 four-year run, learning in those first two years what it takes to make it to state.
“We learned a lot from them,” Boerger said of the 2024 champions. “They were a great group of leaders, and I think that definitely helped us to learn how to be leaders and take this team here just like they did.”
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