She's the MAC (10/20/06)

FORT RECOVERY - Tiff Gaerke readily admits in middle school she was awkward and uncoordinated, not fully in control of her long limbs. Four years later, she's the best volleyball player in the best small-school conference in Ohio.

Gaerke, now a 6-foot-tall Fort Recovery senior, was voted the Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Year this week.

"It's exciting," said Gaerke before practice Thursday as the Indians prepare to take on host New Bremen in Saturday's tournament opener. "It's a great achievement. When I first started playing volleyball it would have never even come to my mind ..."

"I think it was well deserved," added FRHS coach Diana Rammel. "She's a great player, great all the way around. They couldn't have picked a better person.

"She brings a positive attitude, a fun atmosphere and an incredible talent."

Gaerke began her volleyball career when her sister, Lindsay, a 2004 FRHS graduate, was on the Tribe team. She and classmate Vicki Roessner went to a camp with Lindsay, spending much of their time shagging balls.

But, they were also allowed to participate in some of the hitting drills.

"I was so uncoordinated," Gaerke said. "I hit backboards. It was bad."

And still, one of the coaches encouraged the lanky blonde to start playing club volleyball. She did, and now hopes to lead Fort Recovery (16-6) to the state finals before heading off to the University of Dayton on a full-ride scholarship next year.

She credits talent from God, hard work, commitment and her friends as just some of the reasons she has come so far.

"My first couple of years I was still terrible, very uncoordinated, couldn't really hit the ball," Gaerke said. "Coaches told setters not to set me. I was that bad. As I got to my freshman year I definitely grew into my body."

Gaerke was a starter from the get-go under then-coach Jackie Briscoe, and has turned in enough great performances over the last four seasons to fill several Tribe highlight reels.

And she has a litany of awards to prove it.

Her selection to the All-MAC first-team this year is her third in a row, and she is likely to add a third straight first-team all-district award as well. She was a third-team all-state honoree as a sophomore, and moved up to second-team all-state last season.

Gaerke's club teams have had great success, winning regional titles and finishing among the top teams in the nation on several occasions. She has twice been named MVP of the loaded Crestview Invitational, and was ranked among the top 100 seniors in the nation by prepvolleyball.com.

Senior setter Abby Niekamp knows her teammate's talent well, as nearly 60 percent of her 767 assists this year have gone Gaerke's way.

"It's awesome," said Niekamp of having a player of Gaerke's caliber. "Any time there's a not-so-good pass, I can hear her and I just know where to put the ball. It might not be one of our plays, but I just know where to put it to her. It's awesome. I hear her no matter what.

"We know we can count on her, and she knows she's the go-to person. And she gets it done for us."

Gaerke has led the Indians to a 9-1 record over the last month, with wins over three state-ranked teams - Division IV No. 1 Marion Local, Division IV No. 6 Old Fort and then-Division II No. 5 Ottawa-Glandorf. The team also finished with five consecutive MAC wins, pushing them to a second-place tie with New Knoxville.

She is the premier offensive player in the area, her 447 kills more than 150 better than any other player. Her 6.4 kills per game average is two more than the other top attackers.

But she is also a defensive powerhouse, both at the net and on the back line. She leads the team in blocks with 120, and is second only to Roessner, the team's libero, in digs with 184.

"She's a great defensive player," said Rammel. "She reads the ball unbelievably well. She just knows where to go and knows where to be at and knows how to play the ball. She does it all."

And she does it in one of the toughest conferences and against one of the toughest schedules any team could face.

The MAC has three teams ranked among the top three teams in their respective divisions - Division IV No. 1 Marion Local, Division III No. 2 Versailles and Division IV No. 3 New Knoxville. Fort Recovery (11th), which played nine of its 22 matches against state-ranked teams, and St. Henry (12th) also just missed spots in the Division IV top 10 in the most recent state poll.

As a group, the MAC is 97-27 (.782) against non-conference opponents, and team from the conference has reached at least the state final four every year since 1994.

"When you are in a conference that is one of the best in Ohio ... it's an honor for anything, just to even get first team in the conference," Gaerke said. "When I was a sophomore and I got on the team I was pretty surprised at that. ...

"You have all these other great players and all these great teams," she added, mentioning fellow first-team honorees Nicole Wright of New Knoxville, Justine Raterman of Versailles and Marion Local's Abby Niekamp, "you think of the MAC and think whoever makes it out of that sectional is going to go to state ... Just to pick one player out of there is amazing. It's a great honor."[[In-content Ad]]FORT RECOVERY - While Tiff Gaerke was voted Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year in volleyball, three other Fort Recovery seniors also came away with honors.

Setter Abby Niekamp and libero Vicki Roessner were named to the All-MAC second team, and fellow middle hitter Lauren Wenning earned honorable mention.

Niekamp leads the area in assists with 767 in 22 matches to go along with 48 blocks. Roessner powers the Indian defense with 215 digs, and Wenning has 161 kills, 80 blocks and 77 digs.

Jeremy Riley, coach of the MAC champion Versailles Tigers, was named MAC Coach of the Year.