Norwich's volleyball team has a poster board created this season that is titled "C's Equal Champion."

There are 14 words starting with the letter "C," yet none of those words is actually "champion." 

Some of the words the team and head coach Shelly Alger are abiding by this season are commitment, communicate, confidence, control, consistent, and compete.

Those words certainly define the mettle of this Purple Tornado club, which is now on the brink of a historic accomplishment.

Ranked number three in the latest Max Preps New York State Class B poll, Norwich (16-1) has rattled of 16 straight victories since an opening-match loss to Owego.

Along the way, it avenged that one loss - to Owego - and captured a Southern Tier Athletic Conference division championship.

In 45-plus years of varsity volleyball, the previous best-ever division finish for Norwich was a tie for a division title that it ultimately lost in a tiebreaker.

Decades removed from that singular high point, Norwich not only claimed a division title, but it rolled past Vestal earlier this week in the STAC playoffs.

That set up a date with perennial power Horseheads for the league title Friday night at 6 p.m. at Horseheads High School.

A victory at Horseheads would give the Purple Tornado the program's first league championship.

"Horseheads is a top-notch team," said Norwich coach Shelly Alger. "They play exceptionally well on offense and defense. They also block well and serve very well."

That's high praise from the Norwich coach, but at this stage of the season, the Tornado will only see top-notch level clubs the rest of the way.

To that point, the Purple Tornado is certainly no slouch, either. The two clubs matched up twice at the Union-Endicott Tournament in early September, and the matches were split one apiece.

From that day, each club did nothing but win. 

Norwich avenged its early loss to Owego, topped longtime rival Windsor, and outlasted Vestal in a tough regular season five-setter.

Horseheads, too, topped Owego, and defeated Vestal in five sets in a mid-September thriller.

By all accounts, tonight's STAC title clash pits two evenly matched clubs.

"We will have to play the game tight, stay focused, and remember our C's," Alger said.