Conference Championship Momentum

The Newark Lady Norsemen volleyball team comes into the final stretch of the season after a bittersweet conference championship victory. The ladies beat Indian Creek in two games in front of a frenzy crowd at Paw Paw High School. This conference championship completes a clean sweep for this year’s seniors, as they have won conference titles in all 4 years during their careers.

Unfortunately, during the October 9 victory, Sophomore Caeley Larson came down awkwardly on a kill, clutching her knee. She had to be helped off the court and would not return to the game. Sadly, results showed a torn ACL and sprained MCL that will sideline Caeley for the season.

This is a tough blow for Caeley and the team, especially this close to the postseason. “It’s going to be really hard to replace Caeley but I think we can step up and do it. We will need to cover very well and so far Riane Tomsa has stepped in and done a good job,” said Senior libero Megan DiClementi.

The Lady Norsemen began postseason play on October 26 with Regionals at Serena High School. This team hopes to take their recent hot streak into the playoffs and make a deep run. “The conference title gave us as a team a lot of confidence going forward. We proved to ourselves that we could fight through adversity and still rally to win.” DiClementi said as she and the girls prepare for the postseason.

Senior Kelsea Zitt also stressed the importance of the conference title. “We look to carry this momentum from the conference tourney into the final few games of the season and into the postseason,” she said.

By Will Clausel