Fort's Gaerke makes it official (11/14/06)

FORT RECOVERY - Six months after making her decision, Tiff Gaerke made it official.

Gaerke, a Fort Recovery senior, signed a National Letter of Intent Monday to play volleyball for the University of Dayton Flyers next season. She will join a squad that is 21-8 overall this year and the top seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

"I loved it from the first time I went there," said Gaerke, who plans on joining the pre-physical therapy program. "Their coaches are really what pulled me through. They have such motivation. They knew they could be a great program, with work of course, but they knew they could be up in the top 25. That's what I really wanted was to be on a team that knows it can be great."

Dayton has had its best success under Gaerke's future coach, Tim Horsmon, who took over the program in 2003. The Flyers won their first A-10 championship and earned their first NCAA tournament berth under Horsmon in 2003. They have been back to the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons.

Gaerke's current and former high school coaches agree the 6-footer will help Dayton continue that run of success.

"She's a hard-working kid. She's got unbelievable talent. She's quick. She's smart on the court," said Diana Rammel, who took over the Fort Recovery program during the middle of the 2006 season. "She's just an all-around good player. You don't get too many players that are all-around good like her.

"She can do it all. She's a great blocker. She's a great digger. She knows how to read the court ..."

Gaerke becomes the second Tribe spiker in four years to earn a Division I scholarship, and will be just the third in school history to play at a D-1 school. Joscie Kaup, a 2004 graduate whose sister Jackie Briscoe coached Gaerke for her first three seasons with the Indians, is playing for Syracuse. Renee Fiely walked on at the University of Dayton.

"Tiffany is a complete utility player," said Briscoe, who played her college volleyball at Ohio Northern. "She can play anything in the front line whether they put her on the outside, in the middle or on the right side. I know she's going to excel. ...

"She's got tons of athletic ability and you can mold her into what you want her to be. And she will excel at it and she will be great at it. That's why Dayton wants her."

Gaerke has often talked about how uncoordinated she was when she began playing volleyball in middle school. She mentions hitting backboards with her attacks, having little or no control over where the ball was going when she hit.

Playing for a Division I school wasn't exactly on the radar.

"It feels amazing. I can't say it's always been a dream of mine because I've never actually thought it would be able to be accomplished," said Gaerke. "Just right now knowing that I can play at the upper level is amazing. From where I started from, it's just a huge step for me.

"I want to hopefully be in the starting lineup ... for the big games, to actually be able to start. It's going to be a challenge to change my position, but I look forward to that and I'm willing to work hard ..."

Gaerke said she will be moving from the middle, where she played all four years at Fort Recovery, to an outside hitting spot for the Flyers. She hopes to eventually be playing all-around, and if her list of accomplishments are any indication she'll get there sooner rather than later.

The senior has been an All-State selection in each of the last three seasons, and was one of just eight athletes to earn Division IV first-team honors this year. She was an All-District and All-Midwest Athletic Conference first-team selection three straight years, and was voted MAC Player of the Year this season. She owns a couple of MVP awards from the Crestview Invitational, and was one of the top 100 seniors in the nation according to prepvolleyball.com.

Looking back at her career, Gaerke doesn't even mention a specific match or any of her statistics or various awards she's won. Instead, what she'll miss most, is her teammates.

"I have so many favorite moments," said Gaerke. "My team throughout all four years, they were amazing to work with. We've had six seniors this year, and all of them were my best friends. And the underclassman, you grow such a bond with them. My team, all together, was outstanding."[[In-content Ad]]