Timely timeout

CLAYTON, Ohio — The Tribe just went on a 6-0 run to tie up the first set against the second-ranked team in the state.

Tricia Rosenbeck promptly called a timeout to stop the bleeding and get her team on track.

After the talk, things were never the same as the Indians got outscored by their neighbors to the east 63-17.

Fort Recovery High School’s volleyball team couldn’t keep up with No. 2 St. Henry after a well-placed timeout in the first set in a 25-17, 25-3, 25-9 loss in Saturday’s OHSAA Division VI Regional 24 final hosted by Northmont.

The loss brought the Tribe’s season to an end, while its Midwest Athletic Conference rival will move on to play Independence in the state semifinal.

“St. Henry is obviously a fantastic team,” said FRHS coach Travis Guggenbiller. “But I’m still just so proud of my team. We have nothing to hang our heads on. We worked our butts off, we earned this spot here today.

“I would have liked to see a better reaction to how the game went, but on the first set, I thought we put up a really good fight and kind of let the serve get the best of us from there. But, still proud of my team’s growth that we made this year.”

The Indians (14-13) didn’t have the best start to the first set, but stayed within striking distance of St. Henry (22-5).

Down 12-6 FRHS put together its best run of the day. It started with Bridget Homan attacking the ball off of a St. Henry blocker and out of bounds for a kill. Brynn Willmann and Kenna Dues blocked Molly Wendel for a second point before Kayla Gaerke dropped in an ace. 

Homan then recorded her fourth and fifth kills — she led Fort Recovery with six — sandwiching a Willmann kill.

Rosenbeck, the SHHS coach, then called a timeout to stop the 6-0 run that tied the match at 12-12.

“We just talked about how we were going to have to compete,” Rosenbeck said. “It’s going to go point-for-point. We said when we string together points, we can’t let them go on a run. We’re not going to play this roller coaster game all night. We decided not to and played our game the rest of the way.”

Out of the timeout, St. Henry produced its own run of five points to take the lead. Another 6-0 run gave SHHS complete control of the set at 23-15 before a kill by Karlee Buschur and a Cameron Muhlenkamp ended the set.

The Tribe then suffered its worst set of the season as it only managed three points. (Its previous worst was a pair of nine-point sets from matches against Marion Local and Versailles.)

The Indians gave up 15 kills in the set, including six to Buschur, who led the match with 11 put downs. The Tribe in general struggled against St. Henry’s hitters and servers, giving up 33 kills — Fort Recovery only had 15 — and 17 aces.

“Even if our block’s up, they just hit through either way,” said Kayla Gaerke, Fort Recovery’s freshman libero. “They come up with the ‘boom.’ … It’s not easy, but we should have made changes sooner. But in the end they’re a great team and came out with it.

The only points FRHS earned in the second set came on kills from Muhlenkamp and Alexis Grisez and a center line violation by setter Addy Homan.

The third set started better for the Indians, but they couldn’t last as it gave up an 11-0 run and a 5-0 run, split up only when Morgan Baumer rolled her ankle to fall over the center line.

St. Henry’s runs killed the Indians as they couldn’t find an answer to switch the momentum.

“It’s really hard,” Guggenbiller said. “We didn’t do the best at it as the set went on, but we did do a lot of it throughout the year. That’s going to be an area that we focus on in the offseason.”

While the Tribe didn’t have its best showing on Saturday, it is an experience they can learn and grow from as the entire roster is set to return for 2026.

“I saw a quote the other day and told the girls, ‘Just because you don’t get what you want the first time, doesn’t mean you give less the second time and hope you get it in return,’” Guggenbiller said. “Now that means, we’ve gotta give more. These girls are ready to go back at it in the offseason.”