FR makes progress in loss

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Indians were up against one of the best teams in the state.
Facing an uphill battle, all Fort Recovery High School volleyball coach Chelsea Rogers wanted was for her team to give their best effort.
After dropping the first two sets to the Division III No. 3 Coldwater Cavaliers on Tuesday, the Indians got within striking distance in the third.
The Tribe wasn’t able to force a fourth set.
“I think we made progress,” said Rogers, whose team fell to the Cavs 25-17, 25-20, 25-21. “That is a good team. It is one of the best teams in Division III.
“At this point we are expecting us to improve for the ultimate goal and that’s (the postseason) tournament.”
Coldwater coach and former Fort Recovery resident Mike Etzler said he knew the Indians were going to put up a fight.
“They are good enough to stay with every team,” he said. “That is how the (Midwest Athletic Conference) is. Every team is so good. It is great competition.
“We knew they were going to stay with us, we just had to get that two- or three-point edge and just keep pushing.”
Fort Recovery (9-12, 0-8 MAC) trailed 7-5 in the third set, but a kill by Coldwater’s Denise Schwieterman and back-to-back errors made the deficit balloon to 10-5.
A service error by Coldwater (20-1, 8-0 MAC) gave the Tribe a point, and FRHS senior Kendra Siefring later slammed back-to-back kills to cut the Cavs’ lead to 11-8.
“She is going to get her kills,” Etzler said of Siefring, who will play next season at Ohio Dominican University. “She is a good player.”
Following another kill by Schwieterman, the Tribe got three consecutive points, including an ace from Devin Post and kill from Siefring to get within one, 12-11. Siefring led the Indians with 11 kills.
Fort Recovery’s deficit was never more than two as it traded the next six points with Coldwater.
But the Tribe had a difficult time evening the score.
Kills by Tasha Kahlig and Taylor Siefring gave the Cavs a 17-14 advantage, but a Coldwater service error and an ace from Carley Stone got Fort Recovery back within one.
The Cavs were then able to create separation on kills from Paige Hartings and Kahlig.
“We just couldn’t break the seal, I guess,” Rogers said. “We just couldn’t tie it. I can’t pinpoint anything why we couldn’t break that. It just sucks that we let them get away from us so fast and then we were able to get close.”
Fort Recovery, which is seeded eighth in the Division III Kalida District and opens postseason play Oct. 21 at No. 5 seed Paulding, had a brief 5-2 lead in the opening set, and was ahead by two points on three separate occasions.
Coldwater nabbed a 10-9 lead on a kill from Hartings — she led all players with 15 — and an ace from Kahlig, but a serve error tied the score at 10.
The Cavaliers went on a 7-1 run and eventually took the set 25-17.
Coldwater got off to a hot start in the second, scoring seven consecutive points for a 9-2 lead. Fort Recovery got as close as three points, 16-13 and again at 21-18.
Kills from Kahlig and Hartings as well as an attack error by Fort Recovery gave Coldwater set point. Back-to-back mistakes by the Cavs made it 24-20 until Hartings hit through the Indians’ defense for the final kill of the set.
Coldwater’s size at the net was just too much for the Fort Recovery.
“It seems like it’s a common occurrence that we’re the shorter team,” Rogers said. “Since last year I’ve been trying to build our defense to outlast some of those tall teams.
“(Hartings) is the best middle (hitter) in the league. I think even a lot of times if our block was set she was getting over it.”
Madison Grover led the Fort Recovery defense with 12 digs, and Faith Kahlig had seven.

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery dropped the opening set.
It dominated the final two in a three-set victory, 24-26, 25-10, 25-20.
Hannah Knapke led Fort Recovery’s offense with 10 kills to go with her 11 digs.
Grace Thien had a team-high 15 digs, Kiah Wendel tallied nine digs and four aces, and Carly Link had six blocks.
Jill Roessner totaled 13 assists, and Audra Metzger added 10.