Fort draws up win vs. Bath (09/23/03)

FORT RECOVERY — The Wildcats tried like crazy to stop Fort Recovery Monday. The Indians wouldn’t let it happen.

The teams traded 10 side outs in a row, but Fort Recovery finally ended the first game en route to a 15-7, 15-4 trouncing of Bath.

“I thought it was seven (side outs),” said Indian coach Jackie Kaup, “but I lost track. We’ve been trying to learn to finish games. Obviously, we’re still working on that.”

The good sign was that while the Tribe took a while to end the first game, it didn’t allow the Wildcats to close the gap either.

Game one was one of runs, with Renee Schmackers serving the Indians to a 5-1 lead. She got a couple of kills from Julie Grube, one from Joscie Kaup and one from Briget Metzger to go along with her ace.

The teams traded side outs seven times before Amy Simindinger started a rally of her own, with Bath scoring six points in a row for the 7-5 lead. Mandy Stone had a pair of kills to help Simindinger, but three of the six points came on Fort Recovery attack errors.

However, the Indians regrouped and when Krystal Rammel and Schmackers headed back to serve they were ready to roll.

Rammel put them back ahead with three points, including one on an ace and one on a Joscie Kaup kill. Then Schmackers scored six more in a row, including another ace and two more Kaup kills.

The succession of side outs followed until Rammel served again and finished the game with an ace.

“That was a great rotation for us,” said Kaup of Schmackers (13 points, two aces) and Rammel (four points, two aces). “For some reason tonight that just clicked.”

Schmackers would also start the run as the Indians took control of the second game and never relinquished it.

With the teams tied at 3-3, Schmackers served and scored the first point for herself with a kill from the back row of a great save of a ball way out of bounds by Lindsay Gaerke. Gaerke followed with a quick kill of her own, and the Fort was on its way.

Joscie Kaup scored six points in a row on her serve with an ace and a pair of Briget Metzger kills. Metzger added another kill on Gaerke’s serve, which was followed by an ace to complete the 10-point run for a 13-3 lead.

Bath (5-9) managed to get one more point on the board before Stefanie Westgerdes served an ace and Jenn Stahl slammed down a kill to end the match.

Kaup led the way with eight kills, while adding 12 assists and six points. Metzger had another solid match with seven kills and four blocks.

“She’s improved,” said Kaup of Metzger. “With the finger injury it took her a while to come back. Hopefully it will continue through the whole season.”

Jennalee Post had 12 sets and 10 digs for the Indians. Rammel finished with seven digs.

Wildcat coach Nancy Kizer said she thought her team could have built on its effort at the end of the first game.

“I felt like we had the momentum going into the second game,” she said. “We just couldn’t get off to a good start. They’re a very nice team.”

Brittany Miller was the top offensive player for Bath with two kills. Mary Simindinger had eight blocks, while Amy Simindinger finished with eight digs.

Jessie Hefner put up six assists, and Amy Simindinger and Mandy Stone each had one ace.

Fort Recovery is contending with the loss of a few players.

Rachel Brackman suffered a knee injury recently, and her ability to return this year is unknown. Olivia Post had missed the last few matches with an ankle injury, but is no longer with the team.

The Indians now head back to action in the ridiculously good Midwest Athletic Conference at home Thursday against St. Johns (9-3) at 6 p.m. Eight of the 10 teams in the MAC are over .500, including Division IV No. 1 St. Henry (15-1), No. 2 Minster (13-0) and No. 7 Marion Local (11-5).

Junior varsity

Kristen Schwieterman had a huge match for the junior varsity team as it topped Bath 15-11, 15-5.

The Indians (8-1) got a couple of kills from Schwieterman to pull into a tie after trailing 6-3, and never trailed the rest of the match. They took advantage of several service errors by the Wildcats and Schwieterman served out the match, ending it with an ace.

Fort Recovery rolled to a 6-0 lead in the second game, and Schwieterman blasted a huge kill right in the middle of the Bath defense to put the game at 14-5. Ciera Rammel ended it one swing later with an ace.

Schwieterman shared a team-highs of six kills with Kelly Link and 11 points with Brenda Rindler.

Rindler also had six digs, Vicki Roessner had six, and Rammel followed with five. Rammel also put up 10 assists, while Link and Kristi Westgerdes added three blocks apiece.

Freshmen

Fort Recovery’s freshman volleyball team improved to 9-1 with a 15-13, 15-4 victory over New Bremen.

Abby Niekamp led the way with 13 points, 23 sets and seven digs. Jodi Tobe had eight points and a trio of kills.

Holly Stein and Lauren Wenning followed with two kills apiece. Stein also had 15 sets, and Brittany Brackman notched 10 digs.[[In-content Ad]]