Calvary's season ends in the consolation round of nationals
Nov. 1—CEDARVILLE, Ohio — Calvary's season came to an end in the consolation round of the NCSAA national tournament on Friday.
"I cannot stop thinking of just how far we come every year," Calvary head coach John Wall said. "We have less girls in our entire high school than other schools have in just two classrooms. It's amazing to me to see these girls play year after year and take down Goliaths."
After being eliminated from championship contention, the Eagles (24-4) won both consolation games and finished in fifth place overall.
The Eagles finished 2-1 in pool play after sweeping Algoma Christian of Michigan, winning 25-10 and 24-17.
Calvary's servers combined for 46 points and four aces. Paula Ganoe scored 13 points and Shilah Ganoe scored 12.
"We were able to watch Algoma in pool play and we were confident that we would be able to take them in two games despite them having two bigs in the middle," Wall said. "Our serving game really punished Algoma leading to our highest points run of the tournament."
Calvary then faced the Anderson Angels of Indiana and fell in three sets with scores of 23-25, 25-18 and 15-7. The Angels went on to win the national championship.
Calvary was the only team to take a set from the Angels during the tournament.
"The Angels were a tough team," Wall said. "We played, flat out, our best game of the entire season to take the first game, but in the end, it wasn't a pace we could keep up. Our passes began to suffer and we just could not create enough offense to match the four bigs in their front line."
Allie Scritchfield recorded a personal tournament-high 22 assists.
The loss to Anderson sent Calvary to the consolation round and out of contention for the national championship.
"Our team was disappointed to be knocked out of the championship round, but together, we were determined to finish our excellent season as strong as we could," Wall said.
The Eagles won both consolation matches, sweeping Portersville Christian of Pennsylvania 2-0 with scores of 25-18 and 25-10 and Victory Christian 2-0 with scores of 25-19 and 25-17.
"We have faced Victory Christian every time we have traveled to the NCSAA championships," Wall said. "They defeated us in 2019 in the finals, so we knew they would be tough, and they did not disappoint. These were two very contested games. In the end, our serves kept them off balance earning 33 combined points and eight aces. Our passers robbed them of 36 kills."
Calvary graduates four seniors who have left their mark on the program. Scritchfield broke the career assist record earlier this year. Bethany Carrington, Shilah Ganoe and Tracy Michael along with Scritchfield helped Calvary win three conference championships and a national title last year.
The senior class only lost nine games in their high school career.
"We lose four very competitive seniors this year, Allie Scritchfield, Bethany Carrington, Shilah Ganoe and Tracy Michael have come through the last four years together," Wall said. "Sadly, we have played our last game together. It's only the day after the end of the season, and I already miss them. I am very proud of all of these girls, I am very proud of Calvary Volleyball."
