Cavs top Fort Recovery (09/19/07)

COLDWATER, Ohio - The Indians' latest MAC setback left their coach at a loss.

"I thought we had it. I thought we did," said Fort Recovery High School volleyball coach Diana Rammel. "I don't know if it's a rotation ... I just don't know."

The Tribe is 0-4 in the Midwest Athletic Conference after Tuesday's loss to the Coldwater Cavaliers in which it won the opening game before fading to a 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-22 defeat.

Fort Recovery is 4-7 overall, with its only losses to non-conference opponents coming to Division III No. 3 Anna - a MAC member for football only - and Division IV No. 7 Lehman Catholic. It also lost a non-conference match to MAC foe Parkway at the St. Marys Invitational.

Monday's match saw the Indians pull away late in a tight first game, only to have serving issues take away their opportunity at victories in the next two as Coldwater (7-3, 1-3 MAC) took three straight for the win.

Facing a 20-14 deficit in the second game, Fort Recovery rallied with four straight points, including an ace from Nicole Pottkotter and kills by Kinsey Wenning and Anne Koesters. However, Pottkotter's next serve floated long and out of bounds.

Then, after another Wenning kill got the ball back for the Indians trailing 23-19, a second straight service error gave it to Coldwater once again. The Cavaliers finished off the game thanks to back-to-back attack errors by Fort Recovery.

With game three tied at 17 another set of back-to-back service errors by the Indians - with one by Coldwater in between - put the ball in the hands of Maria Wermert. The Cavaliers' most effective server buried the Indians with five straight points, including two aces, as the home team pulled away.

"It killed us. They don't (realize) that is just an easy side out," said Rammel of the service errors. "If you can't get a serve in, your head is just not in the game. I tell them that every day."

Wermert hurt the Indians with her on-the-run serve to the tune of 17 points, including four aces.

"She goes line with it sometimes. She goes short with it sometimes. She goes cross-court with it sometimes," said Coldwater coach and Fort Recovery graduate Mandy Diller. "That's what we really want the girls (to do)."

The fourth game was a back-and-forth affair much like the first three, tied at 14 before the Cavaliers made a quick three-point spurt that included a Kelley Lefeld kill. Coldwater never trailed again.

Lefeld led the Cavalier offense with 16 kills, and Ali Wenning added 11. Marla Hess totaled 31 assists, and Ashley Wermert had 10 digs.

"For us, this is the first time we came out, lost the first one and were able to come back and win the next three," said Diller. "Fort Recovery is a very athletic and good team, and I think we finally took a team that we were comparable with and played harder.

"It was a good win for us. Last year playing Fort Recovery we went to five and it was a nail-biter until the very end. We've struggled the last few years with them, so to finally come out ahead felt good."

Fort Recovery looked good in the game-one win, getting three consecutive kills from Wenning - she matched Lefeld for the match high with 16 - as it rolled out to an 8-3 lead. The Cavaliers eventually used a 6-0 run to pull ahead late at 21-19, but Wenning responded with back-to-back kills to kick off a 6-1 run to end the game.

However, the Indians couldn't build off of that momentum, getting too few good swings at the ball and playing too many tips, taps and free balls.

"Errors, mental mistakes, killed us," said Rammel. "Mental, little things ... are killing us.

"It's a matter of who wants it the most, and for some reason we're just not wanting it."

Sarah Braun followed Wenning with 10 kills and seven blocks, Pottkotter notched 16 assists and 13 digs and Kelsey Wuebker had 20 assists and six points. Beth May came up with a team-best 14 digs, Emily May scored nine points and Joanna Snyder had five blocks.

Junior varsity

The Indians dropped to 6-2 with a 25-13, 25-16 loss to Coldwater.

Chelsey Leuthold paced Fort Recovery with eight points, and Carly Staugler had seven assists. Lorraine Shier had six kills, and Josie Guggenbiller followed with three. Alyssa Brackman turned in nine digs, and Olivia Thien had two blocks.

Freshman

FORT RECOVERY - Nichole Kaiser powered Fort Recovery as it improved to 6-3 with a 25-16, 25-17 win over the Van Wert Cougars.

Kaiser finished with a team-best seven assists to go along with seven points. Barbie Link scored 11 points, and Marissa Brunswick and Holly Thien each had three kills.

Haley Wilson totaled six digs, Thien had two blocks and Shelby Brunswick notched two digs.

Middle school

NEW KNOXVILLE, Ohio - The Indian teams each earned wins over the New Knoxville Rangers, the eighth graders by a 25-20, 25-16 score and the seventh grade team with a 25-13, 25-8 final.

Chelsea Pottkotter powered the Fort Recovery seventh graders (5-3) with eight points, including six aces. Emily Link and Janelle Schwieterman each had three points.

Olivia Schwieterman's 13 points and two assists led the eighth grade Indians (4-4). Mikayla Westgerdes and Kara Faller each had five points, and Rashell Muhlenkamp added two kills.[[In-content Ad]]