Fort sweeps Patriots

FORT RECOVERY — They were teams heading in opposite directions.
The Patriots, who won just five matches a year ago, had already more than doubled that total in 2010.
The Indians, sectional championship for the first time in 15 years last season, had won less than 25 percent of its matches this year.
But the patterns did not hold when they met Tuesday.
Fort Recovery High School’s volleyball team picked up a much-needed victory, halting a nine-match losing streak with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-21 win over Jay County.
“That was huge. We haven’t won in a while,” said FRHS coach Diana Rammel, whose team’s last victory came Sept. 13 at Arcanum. “I think it was just a little bit of a confidence booster.
“They played well too. We’re starting to feed our hitters, and I think that’s where we’ve been struggling a lot this year.”
The Indians (5-13), who have won nine straight over Jay County, led throughout the first game and trailed only briefly early in the second and third. The Patriots (11-15) never scored more than three consecutive points.
“We never caught fire,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler. “We’ve worked with the kids on controlling the match … and they just didn’t pull it together tonight very well.
“(The Indians) had about three or four inches of size on pretty much every position … with the exception of (middle hitter Mariah) Hornaday. Our serve, they were able to handle pretty easy … and were able to side out. And then they just started getting confidence and just putting it on top of the net. And our size couldn’t slow them down at all.”
It was Fort Recovery’s serving that gave it an advantage in the opening game after the teams traded the opening five points. Senior Olivia Thien chalked up back-to-back aces, the second of which landed untouched on the back line.
Ericka Lennartz added two more aces as the Indians pushed out to a 10-5 lead, and Shelby Brunswick added another in the opening game.
“It was the deep serve and our inability to get back there to clear the line and then getting caught handcuffed,” said Medler. “We know how to get back on it, but (we) weren’t getting back on the ball. And then we were moving so deep that we couldn’t get to the short stuff that they gave us. You’ve just got to understand you’ve got to move … instead of standing and looking.”
Jay County got back in the opening game with a 6-1 run late, but back-to-back attack errors followed by a Shelby Brunswick kill ended it.
The Patriots took a 3-1 lead thanks to consecutive Hornaday kills in the second game, but Fort Recovery responded with a 6-0 run and controlled the rest of the game.
The third game was close throughout, with the Indians leading just 22-20 after an Alyssa Rigby tip. But Holly Brunswick responded with two kills in the next four points as FRHS finished the match in three games.
Holly Brunswick finished with a match-high 12 kills to go along with eight digs and four blocks.
“If she hits like that, we have better outcomes,” said Rammel of the senior. “And she’s starting to hit with more confidence. I think for a while she had some doubt, she wasn’t sure, and now she’s just kind of reinforcing her abilities.
“I thought we serve received well. We free-ball passed well. And those have been areas of concern for us. It was much better tonight. I was very pleased with the way the girls played.”
“I thought they all played pretty well. I think the girls were just tired of losing.”
Thien followed Brunswick with nine kills.
Shelby Brunswick put up 13 assists and also led the serving attack with 10 points and three aces. Kayla Kahlig also had 13 assists, and Abby Backs totaled 13 digs and Lennartz scored eight points.
Medler said the Patriots have played teams similar to FRHS this year, and noted that a difference was the work from setters Brunswick and Kahlig.
“That’s the same thing Connersville did to us,” he said. “They’ve got a little bit of size at the net. We’ve got to play hard and really aggressive against size. Their sets were right on top of the net, and our sets were eight feet off.”
Hornaday’s seven kills led Jay County, and she also had three points and two blocks. Tanner Martin finished with 14 assists and four points, Rigby totaled eight digs and Maria Murphy had six kills.

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery used an 8-2 run in the third game to pull away for a 25-27, 26-24, 25-13 victory over the Patriots.
Jay County (2-11) rallied back from a 22-16 deficit to win the first game on an ace by Bailey Weatherhead and took an 18-13 lead in the second. But the Indians made a comeback of their own, fighting back for a victory as they finished the second game on a 5-0 run.
The teams were tied at eight in the third game before FRHS, which was led by 13 assists, eight points and seven digs from Emily Link, pulled away for the win.
Amy Link finished with eight digs and five kills for the Indians. Hannah Kaup scored 12 points and had five aces, and Kelsey Fiely finished with six kills.
Weatherhead had 10 digs for Jay County, and Ashley Motter scored 10 points. Shannon Springer finished with nine assists, and Sam Homan had six kills and two blocks.[[In-content Ad]]