NORWICH – Winners of three straight games entering Tuesday night’s contest, the Norwich Purple Tornado took on the perennial Section IV volleyball powerhouse, the Owego Indians, in their toughest test to date in the 2021 season.

Owego, the more senior laden team would sweep Norwich 3-0 in straight sets, 25-21, 25-14 and 24-23.

Despite winning in straight sets, the young Tornado squad made the much more seasoned Indians work for every point as NHS played tightly contested first and third sets. Norwich’s stellar serving numbers played a crucial role in keeping them in each game. The Tornado served a whopping 92 percent from the service line- a difficult accomplishment in itself, much less against an experienced opponent that is consistently a sectional and state title contender year in and year out.

“The girls played really well” said Norwich Head Coach Shelly Alger, “We played a team that usually makes it to states and we played right with them…I’m very proud of our girls and the way they played tonight.”

Meg Lindridge led Norwich with 11 digs, Maddy Morris pitched in 12 assists and Lauren Squires brought the thunder with 13 kills to go along with eight digs.