Fort falls short (10/08/03)

FORT RECOVERY — Fort Recovery gave the top-ranked volleyball team in the state all it could handle. The problem is, the St. Henry Redskins did handle it, this time.

Division IV No. 1 St. Henry was just barely able to hold off a superb effort by the Indians 17-15, 16-14. Despite the loss, Fort Recovery has proved in its past two matches that it is one of the best teams in the state.

“My girls showed the potential they’ve been trying to show all year,” said Tribe coach Jackie Kaup. “We wanted to come in with confidence after a big win (Thursday over Marion Local) and just play the match. That’s what we did.”

The match set the stage for what will be a tremendous sectional tournament next week when the Tribe and the Redskins join No. 2 Minster, Marion Local — ranked 10th last week before the loss to Fort Recovery — New Bremen and New Knoxville get together.

St. Henry (20-1, 8-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) closes out the regular season Thursday against Minster (19-0, 7-0 MAC) to likely determine the tourney’s No. 1 seed, and the Indians (13-6, 4-3 MAC) finish at home against New Bremen at 6 p.m.

Fort Recovery had to rally in each of the two tremendously long games, but had a chance to win them both. The team showed just how good it is with its game-two comeback.

Trailing 13-5 against the team voted almost unanimously the best in the state, the Indians did not give up.

Krystal Rammel brought the hammer with a huge kill to end the Redskins’ run to the eight-point lead, and then served an ace to start the Tribe rally. She scored three points before giving up the ball.

Julie Grube quickly gave the Fort another side out, ripping a kill through a St. Henry blocker’s hands. Another three points served by Renee Schmackers pulled the Indians to within 13-11.

Finally Grube went back to serve and scored two points, with the game-tying score coming on a Briget Metzger kill.

The teams traded points to go to 14-14, and traded side outs before St. Henry ended the match. Lindsay Puthoff tipped a kill over Jenn Stahl’s block, and a Grube attack flew long to give the Redskins the final point.

“I thought our defense outplayed their defense to hold on and stay in the game,” said Kaup.

Puthoff topped the charts for the Redskins with six kills. Lindsay Hess had 10 digs and a pair of aces, and Christa Schwartz had 12 assists.

“I think it’s kind of a relieving win,” said St. Henry coach Lori Schwieterman, who said she was very impressed with the Indians’ blocking. “We were up 13-5 in that second game and made mistakes and gave them eight points.”

The first game was similar at the end, with Metzger rejecting Lindsay Hess on three out of four attacks to put the Tribe up 14-12. But, Fort Recovery couldn’t put the game away as the teams traded five consecutive side outs.

Christie Hess served the Redskins back into a tie at 14, and they went on to the 17-15 win. The Tribe offense stalled in the closing moments of the first game, with the team’s lone point on its final eight serves coming when a St. Henry attack went wide left.

Still, Kaup couldn’t have been much more proud of her team’s effort.

“The first game was rough because we didn’t come out on top,” she said. “We stayed tough and hung with them. We fought back like crazy. I don’t know any other team that can fight back that hard.”

Joscie Kaup and Briget Metzger — leaders in the upset over Marion Local — brought their big games again against the Redskins.

Kaup paced the team in kills (nine), assists (15) and digs (17). She also had five blocks and four points.

Metzger topped the charts with a ridiculous 15 blocks to go along with six kills.

Julie Grube had eight kills and 16 digs, and Krystal Rammel had eight blocks, seven points and six kills. Jenn Stahl had eight blocks and five kills.

Junior Varsity

Fort Recovery’s junior varsity team slipped behind 6-0 in the first game against St. Henry Tuesday and never quite recovered in a 15-7, 15-8 defeat.

The Tribe (12-3, 5-2 MAC) did manage to match the Redskins for the first six points of the second game, but scored only two the rest of the way. Kylie Elking ended the match with an ace for St. Henry.

Kristi Westgerdes came away with four kills and two blocks for the Indians. Ciera Rammel had eight sets and five digs.

Jackie Wenning led the team with six points, followed by five from Vicki Roessner. Kristen Schwieterman had five digs, and Kelly Link notched two blocks.

Freshmen

The Fort Recovery freshman team continued its outstanding season with a 15-7, 15-2 shellacking of the Versailles Tigers.

Abby Niekamp finished with 15 sets, 10 points and two kills for the Indians, who are now 15-2. Jodi Tobe recorded 10 points and three kills.

Brittany Brackman had 13 digs, Shelby Knapke added 10, and Lauren Wenning had five kills.

Junior High

New Bremen got the best of Fort Recovery’s junior high volleyball teams Thursday as they both dropped to 7-7.

The eighth grade team fell to a 11-15, 15-11, 15-11 defeat, and the seventh grade team lost 14-16, 15-11, 15-10. The match concluded the season for the seventh graders, while the eighth graders will play in MAC tournament action Saturday at New Knoxville.

Ashley Grube paced the eighth grade team with 10 kills and four blocks. Angie Wenning racked up 13 points, and Kim Wellman also got into double digits with 11.

Amy Schoenlein and Sam Bihn each had five digs, and Heather Schmackers put up 18 sets.

The seventh grade team got another huge match from Kinsey Wenning. She had eight points, six digs, five kills and a trio of blocks.

Anne Koesters paced the team with 10 kills and four blocks, and Chelsea Klenke had 16 sets and nine points. Betsy Tobe had 11 points, Kelsey Wuebker had 12 sets and Joanna Snyder came away with eight digs.[[In-content Ad]]