Determined win

COLDWATER, Ohio — Cassidy Rammel’s serve caught the top of the net. The ball crept over and, before any Wildcat was able to react, fell to the floor.
Kelsey Fiely, Kendra Siefring and Rammel dropped into crouches as they screamed. Rammel smacked the floor in disbelief as Emily Link, Tori Lennartz and Sierra Pugh joined in the celebration.
In a season that was sometimes frustrating, this was their moment.
Fort Recovery rallied from a two-games-to-one deficit and a 21-17 hole in the fourth game Tuesday. And after the Minster Wildcats took a 12-11 lead in the fifth, the Indians ran off the final four points to earn a 23-25, 25-21, 15-25, 25-22, 15-12 victory in the opening round of the Division IV high school volleyball sectional tournament at Coldwater.
“I’m so proud of my team right now,” said senior Kelsey Fiely. “Words can’t even describe how happy I am and how proud I am of them and how well they played.
“We were very, very, very determined to win.”
FRHS (9-14), which lost seven in a row during the regular season before coming back to win four of its final six, struggled in the third game and was facing elimination as it trailed by four points late in the fourth. But a Rammel tip put the ball in Emily Link’s hands, and the senior brought her team roaring back. She ripped consecutive aces off the arms of Sara Hosey and Alisha Monnin, and then Rammel came up with a block against Claire McGowan to tie the game.
Minster took a time out, but it didn’t do much good as Lennartz and Rammel responded with back-to-back kills. Another Link ace pushed the Tribe lead to 24-21, and Rammel ended the game with a kill two points later.
“We were determined to get it,” said Link. “I know I told Tori (Lennartz) when I went out there, ‘We are doing it.’ … And we played hard. I was proud of everyone.”
Fort Recovery claimed a 7-2 lead early in the deciding game only to have Minster fight back to take the advantage at 12-11. But the Wildcats committed back-to-back attack errors and then Fiely perfectly pushed the ball to the back-left corner, finding the hole in the defense for a 14-12 lead. And Rammel followed that shot up with her team-best 14th service point of the night to finish off the match.
“I go into the locker room and the girls say, ‘They just wanted it more.’ And they did,” said Minster coach Cami Lefeld, whose team finished at 12-11. “Fort Recovery … was expecting greatness every ball they touched.”
It was fitting that the match ended on a serve, because the Indians’ aggressiveness in that aspect of the game set the tone for the match.
Link had a run of four straight serves in the first game in which the ball never came back over the net, and Pugh recorded three aces in a row during a 5-0 run that put Fort Recovery in control in the second. Link notched three aces during the key 7-0 run in the fourth game, Hannah Kaup and Rammel (14 service points) each came up with two aces early in the fifth.
The Indians racked up 20 aces in the match, with seven of those coming from Link (13 service points).
 “Emily did an amazing job,” said FRHS coach Kylie Huelsman. “Tonight she did what she’s always been able to do.
“She hits the ball hard. Every time she serves, she whales on it. … She’s aggressive every time. She was on tonight.”
FRHS also showed the tenacity to keep the ball off the floor that Huelsman has been talking about since the summer.
Fiely, who was named to the All-Midwest Athletic Conference second team today, made diving digs point after point on the way to a team-high 22. Rammel, who earned All-MAC honorable mention, added eight, and Link had six as the Indians refused to give up easy points.
“The determination and the will to win was there tonight,” said Huelsman. “I tell them all the time, ‘You’re going to be a great team if you just believe that you can be.’ And I think tonight they knew that they had the ability to beat Minster.”
Lennartz paced the offense for Fort Recovery with 10 kills and also had five blocks. Siefring, a freshman, and senior Amy Link each added six kills apiece, and Haley Knapke totaled eight digs. Pugh put up 18 assists to go along with five aces.
The victory marked a dramatic turn-around from the regular-season meeting, in which Minster rolled to a 25-15, 25-13, 25-14 victory. The Indians wanted to prove they were a better team than they showed in that Sept. 18 match.
“On the bus ride home from that match it was so quiet,” said Fiely. “No one talked. We were really embarrassed by how badly we played. I know coming into tonight’s match we were so determined.”
Fort Recovery will get a chance at another rematch Saturday when it returns to Coldwater to play top-ranked Marion Local (19-3) for the sectional championship. The Indians lost to the Flyers 25-12, 25-9, 25-18 in their final match of the regular-season Thursday, but said they look forward to the challenge.
“We’re ready to bring it,” said Emily Link.
“Yeah, we definitely are,” added Fiely. “After tonight’s match, knowing that we probably played the best we have all year, we’re very excited to play them.”[[In-content Ad]]