Purple Tornado sophomore Lauren Squires goes up for a tap kill against two Windsor Black Knights blockers during Tuesday’s match at home. Squires had a big night at the net, coming away with seven kills and six blocks in her varsity debut but Norwich fell 3-1 to Windsor. (Evening Sun Photo, Frank Speziale)

NORWICH – Opening the season with one of the toughest opponents on the schedule, the Purple Tornado Volleyball team took on the Windsor Black Knights Tuesday at home.

In front of a packed gym, Norwich held their own against the Black Knights, taking one of four games but fell by a final of 3-1.

“I’m overwhelmed with joy,” said Tornado head coach Shelly Alger. “I’m extremely happy with the way we played against Windsor. They are always a tough team to play against and we made some big improvements from our tournament over the weekend. I am really proud of this group of girls right now.”

Norwich opened up the first game, keeping the Black Knights close but fell by four points in the 25-21 final. The Purple Tornado then came out in game two firing as they took a quick lead over Windsor in the set.

As the two teams went back and forth, Norwich pulled away at the end to take the game 25-21.

In game three, both teams went on small runs with Windsor starting to run away with it as they inched closer to the 25 points needed. At 17-11, Alger called a timeout to regroup her girls and it paid off as Norwich made a run to come back.

With the scoring hanging at 21-24, the Tornado put together two more points before the Black Knights closed out the set at 25-23.