Cavaliers conquered (10/18/06)

FORT RECOVERY - The Indians are like a NASA space shuttle crew. They are on a mission.

"We want it more than we've ever wanted it," said Fort Recovery senior Abby Niekamp. "After everything, it's now or never."

That was the case for the Tribe Tuesday night as they trailed two-games-to-one and were locked in a 13-all tie in game four. With a share of second place in the Midwest Athletic Conference on the line, the Indians finished the fourth game with a 5-1 run and then grabbed a 9-4 lead in the deciding fifth as they rallied past the Coldwater Cavaliers 25-19, 20-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-8.

In the other big MAC match of the night, Division IV No. 3 New Knoxville handed Division IV No. 1 Marion Local a 12-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-18 defeat. New Knoxville and Fort Recovery each finished at 7-2 in the conference to share second place, while Division III No. 2 Versailles went 9-0 for the MAC title.

The Indians (16-6) have caught fire, finishing the regular season with six consecutive wins. They are 9-1 since Sept. 23, including wins over top-ranked Marion Local and Division IV No. 6 Old Fort. Their only loss during the stretch came against Division IV No. 8 St. Paul.

"They just won't let one get away," said FRHS coach Diana Rammel, whose team also had a five-game win over St. Henry a week ago. "They've just got this drive, this drive to do well. It wasn't a great match on our part, but I think we played with six players on the floor at all times tonight and that makes a big difference."

Fort Recovery stumbled after winning game one, allowing a 7-0 run to give the Cavaliers (13-8, 3-6) control of game two and falling in the third after holding a 22-20 lead. After winning a back-and-forth battle in game four, the Tribe took control in game five despite dropping the opening two points.

Attack errors by Coldwater's Tiffany Uhlenhake brought the match back to a tie, and a Joanna Snyder kill gave the Indians a lead they would never relinquish. The Cavaliers tied the match at three and four, only to have Emily Severt knock her service attempt into the net and the Tribe's Tiff Gaerke follow with a pair of aces.

Coldwater coach and Fort Recovery graduate Mandy Diller tried to stop the bleeding with a time out, but Lauren Wenning notched a kill on the next point as the lead ballooned to 9-4.

"I told the girls, 'We've got to get a jump on them,' and if we don't get a jump it's tough to come back when you're only playing to 15," said Diller. "It's a fast game in that last game."

Another Wenning kill made the lead 10-5 and then Snyder turned in the play of the game.

In the midst of a stirring volley, Snyder came up with a huge dig on the left side. She popped right up and was in position to put away a kill down on the left line.

"Our underclassmen definitely stepped it up," said Gaerke, a senior who is committed to play at the University of Dayton next season. "They played amazing tonight."

Snyder was second on the team with 18 digs and also had seven kills. Fellow sophomore Kinsey Wenning had 12 kills.

"We told them ... how much this season means to us, and they keep doing it for us," said Niekamp. "It's awesome."

The six-point deficit created by Snyder's big play was too much for Coldwater to overcome. Brittany Brackman had an ace, and Lauren Wenning added two more kills, including one to set up match point.

On its second match-point try, Fort Recovery finished off the Cavaliers in rather simple fashion - bump, set, spike.

Karla Niekamp served for Coldwater, and Brackman passed the ball up to Niekamp. The senior setter put the ball in the middle of the net for Gaerke, who recorded her 32nd kill to complete the victory.

Gaerke also had 10 blocks and nine points, including five aces. Lauren Wenning added 16 kills and six blocks.

Niekamp racked up 58 assists to go along with 10 points, Brackman and Vicki Roessner each had 11 and Rachel Stahl added seven.

"I was sitting on the bench and I was watching my own team for that half a rotation I'm out, and I saw two amazing plays," said Roessner, the team's senior libero. "... and I've never seen our team play that scrappy before."

Roessner paced the defense with 22 kills. Snyder's 18 were second best on the team, Gaerke had 13 and Brackman added 11.

"Our defense stepped up incredibly in the fourth and fifth game," said Rammel. "They just came through for me.

"You can brag all you want about your hitters and your setter, but without your defensive players getting the ball up there, you're done."

Karla Niekamp led Coldwater with 21 kills, and Uhlenhake added 16. Marla Hess totaled 48 assists, and Jenna Bruns had 12 digs.

"All the matches we've had recently - we had Versailles last week, that was a tough match - we played really tough," said Diller, whose team was 10-2 in non-conference action but 3-6 within the MAC. "Tonight we played tough. It would just be nice, hopefully in the tournament we can finish a big match against a really tough team."

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery forced a deciding game, but couldn't hold its lead in the third as it dropped its final match of the season 25-18, 21-25, 25-21 to the visiting Cavaliers.

Nicole Pottkotter led the Indians (8-8, 2-7 MAC), who battled Coldwater in three close games. She finished with 11 digs, seven assists, five points, four kills, one block and one ace.

The Tribe rallied to take game two after dropping the first, and pushed out to a 16-11 lead in game No. 3. But the Cavaliers pushed back to tie the match at 20 with an ace, and scored the final four points to complete the victory.

Kelsey Wuebker and Kelly Sudhoff each had six kills for Fort Recovery. Wuebker added 11 assists, and Sudhoff had a pair of blocks.

Heather Schmackers finished with 22 digs and five points, and Beth May had six points and a pair of aces. LeAnne Tobin notched 12 digs, and Anne Koesters added three blocks.[[In-content Ad]]