Tribe sweeps T-birds

VAN WERT, Ohio - The first match of the Indians foray in the Division III tournament brought a positive result.

In a tightly contested sectional semifinal match Tuesday, the Fort Recovery High School volleyball team came out on top in every game for a 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 win over the Lima Central Catholic Thunderbirds.

"I think it was very important," said FRHS coach Diana Rammel of getting the sweep. "I just did not want that to go into four, because I think when you do let it go into four your confidence level drops a little bit. And it puts more pressure on you. For us to finish that game, it really meant a lot."

The Tribe (12-10) faced its largest deficit in that third game - a mere three points - and trailed 22-21 as Lima Central Catholic tried to survive and force a fourth game. But in the closing moments, Fort Recovery spread out its offense to finish the job.

Senior Chelsey Leuthold slammed home a kill to pull the Indians even at 22, and an attack error by Laurel Conrad put them in the lead. Conrad notched a kill to even the score again, only to have Fort Recovery juniors Olivia Thien and Holly Brunswick record back to back kills to end the match.

Brunswick and Leuthold shared the team high with 11 kills apiece, and Thien and Nicole Pottkotter each added seven.

"It seemed like we used all of our hitters very well tonight, at the right times," said Rammel. "I thought Olivia Thien had an outstanding night tonight. ... I was glad to see that."

Pottkotter added 18 assists, eight points and two blocks, Leuthold had nine digs and Brunswick notched two blocks. Alyssa Brackman contributed 10 digs and eight points, and Carly Staugler put up 16 assists.

The victory earned the Tribe a rematch with Midwest Athletic Conference rival Coldwater in Saturday's sectional championship match at 4:30 p.m.

FRHS fell 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 to the Cavaliers during the regular season, but has won six of its eight matches since with the only losses coming to Division IV powers No. 1 Marion Local and No. 5 St. Paul.

Rammel said her team's late run of success after losing 7-of-8 from Sept. 12 through Oct. 1, had rebuilt its confidence.

"I think the girls know (their potential) now and they see it," said Rammel, whose squad is one of just two this year to win even a game against undefeated Marion Local. "Just the way they've been playing, their confidence level has really risen."

The Indians' run of four consecutive points, capped by a Josie Guggenbiller kill, gave them the lead for good in the opening game as they limited the Lima Central Catholic offensive attack. The Thunderbirds (13-9) scored more than two consecutive points just once.

"I definitely think we have to give the credit to Fort Recovery tonight," said LCC coach Wes Horstman. "They came out and played us hard, and they plain-and-simple beat us. We couldn't get any momentum going all night.

"That's been one of our strengths all year is to get the momentum and go with it, and they didn't let us do that tonight."

In the second game FRHS was able to take advantage of mistakes by the Thunderbirds, who made consecutive errors five times. That included a run of four straight late in the game that allowed the Tribe to take a 22-19 lead that it would never relinquish.

Lima Central Catholic took control of the third game with a 5-0 run, but struggled to find offense the rest of the way. It had just three kills in the final 33 points of the match compared to 10 for the Indians.

"The consistency wasn't there tonight," said Horstman. "We'd have a couple of real good plays followed by a couple of mediocre plays. Against a good team, you can't do that."

Andrea Thomas paced LCC with 11 kills and five blocks. Danielle Taflinger, who earned first-team All-Ohio honors in Division III last season, had eight kills and four blocks.

Madison George had 26 assists, and Taylor White totaled 16 digs.[[In-content Ad]]