Indians take title

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians won the first game, but momentum had swung.
A nine-point run had built some confidence that Tinora coach Nicole Wells hoped would carry over. It did, but only until Audra Metzger stepped behind the service line.
Metzger recorded 11 of her team’s 15 service points, including five aces, in the second game Saturday, sparking Fort Recovery to a 25-15, 25-21, 25-19 sweep for back-to-back sectional championships.
"It was great," said sophomore Madi Rammel, who let out side-by-side screams with senior Devin Post after the final point. "I was really excited."
Last season’s sectional win over Parkway ended a six-year title drought. This time, it was what the Tribe expected.
"Back-to-back is great. We’re just on to the next," said coach Chelsea Rogers, whose team improved to 16-8. "We’ve just been a confident group. We just have the perfect mix of senior leadership and a lot of underclassmen who bring a lot of spark and energy to the team."
The late momentum from the opening game for Tinora (22-2) helped push it to a 5-0 lead in the second game. But after the Rams got called for a net violation, Metzger went to work.
She smacked aces off the arms of Jenna Von Deylen and Aubrey Reineke with a Cassy Martin kill in between to pull her team back within one.
The Rams were able to escape and had a 13-11 lead the next time Metzger took the ball. Her serve took them out of their system, leading to several errors that put the Indians up 16-13 when Wells took a timeout.
Stepping off the court to regroup didn’t help.
Tinora committed an attack error to push the FRHS lead to four points, and then Metzger continued the punishment with three consecutive aces.
"Man, she was the difference in that second set," said Wells. "We did not handle her serve. It was an awesome serve. And it wasn’t as though there was anybody else on my bench who was going to do better in terms of handling it.
"That’s a great high school serve right there.
"It came over and it just dropped. … When you’ve got speed on the ball and movement on the ball, that was a hard serve to pass up. …
"She certainly stepped up to the line and did her job for Fort Recovery."
Tinora fought back to within two after Metzger’s service run, but Carley Stone slammed home back-to-back kills to end the second game.
The third was a back-and-forth affair early before the Indians took the lead for good on another ace, this time from Kiah Wendel. And it was again Stone, the match leader in kills with 11, who took care of the clincher.
Fort Recovery, the No. 3 seed in the Division III Kalida District, advances to the district semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kalida against second-seeded St. Henry, which topped Columbus Grove 25-13, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21 Saturday to win its sectional title. The Indians won the regular-season meeting 25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21.
The home team was more than ready to play its final match in front of their Fort Site Fieldhouse crowd Saturday, rolling out to a 19-4 lead over Tinora. The Rams, who had dropped just one of their previous 19 games and only six all year, rallied back with their nine-point run only to fall short and then have Metzger reject their momentum in the second game.
"We kind of lost a little bit of communication … so I think the more we started talking the better we came through on our serve receive," said Rammel, who put up 24 assists. "It was easier when we all communicated well."
And then play at the net helped take pressure off the back line. Brooke Gaerke led that effort with five blocks, and Martin added three to go along with her seven kills.
"Our block was really helping our defense today," said Metzger, whose 10 digs were second on the team to Alexis Bubp's 14. "Even getting a touch on it helps slow it down."
Reineke recorded seven kills as her team’s season came to a close. Libero Lexi Kruse had 24 digs, and Kelsey Gerken totaled nine assists.