The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Warriors take it ‘one game at a time’ to win
Fairview joined the PAC in 2011 as a relatively unknown sports program. Warriors steadily improved to capture a back-to-back PAC championship and secure the final title in league history.
Fairview joined the Patriot Athletic Conference in 2011 as a relatively unknown sports program, at least as far volleyball was concerned.
From 2011-16, the Warriors’ best finish was second place in 2013 behind then-champion Clearview before Lutheran West ran the table the next three seasons.
There were steady improvements, but none like the leap made in 2017 when Fairview turned an 8-8 PAC finish the previous year into an undefeated 16-0 season that saw the program’s first-ever conference championship.
Almost a year later and the Warriors have yet to lose a PAC game with two remaining on the schedule, and on Oct. 8 they captured a back-to-back PAC championship with a 3-0 sweep of Oberlin to secure the final title in league history when the PAC disbands in 2019.
“It’s very special for us to go out of the conference winning it in volleyball and ending our time here in the PAC on a high note,” head coach Ellie Caldwell said.
It’s not something the team exactly saw coming, either.
“I definitely think it’s a big shock to all of us,” junior Abby Kuyper said. “We knew we were a good team, but we just took one game at a time, one point at a time and one day at a time, and just really brought it together on game day.”
Kuyper is one of three captains on this year’s team along with seniors Emma Szoradi and Meghan Sozio, and Sozio couldn’t help but agree with her teammate.
Making a name for Fairview volleyball wasn’t something she and the rest of the team knew they really wanted until people started taking notice of the program’s success.
“People tell me that we’re 30-0 in the PAC, (and) it’s so crazy because I never thought my junior and senior year would end up like this,” Sozio said. “I’m so grateful and proud of the teammates I’ve had and what we’ve been able to accomplish because Fairview’s not known to be a huge name in the PAC ... so it was cool these two years to make a name for Fairview volleyball and get us known within our community.”
The goal this season was of course to defend the PAC title, but smaller goals along the way kept the team focused without letting the pressure of another undefeated year become too much to handle.
“One of our goals was to beat all Lorain (County) teams because we won’t see another Lorain (County) team in our new conference,” Sozio said. “We really wanted to let the people in the PAC know that we were a big name and we want them to remember Fairview volleyball as something really good.”
The main focus, however, according to Caldwell was and still is “keeping the zero” — ending the season with a zero in the PAC loss column.
“I use that as motivation to them, to say, ‘Everybody wants to give us that one loss. Everybody wants to take the ‘zero,’ so we need to keep the ‘zero,’ “Caldwell said.
With Brooklyn and Clearview left on the regular-season schedule, two teams at the bottom of the conference standings, “keeping the zero” seems well within reach.
But what’s the mindset heading into the final week of the regular season?
“One game at a time,” Kuyper said. “That’s all I can say.”