Siefring, Tribe survive

PAULDING, Ohio — The Tribe had just lost the third set and was trailing early in the fourth, 6-1.
Coach Chelsea Rogers, whose team struggled through the Midwest Athletic Conference this season, wasn’t going to let her squad lose its cool.
She reassured the team that after winning the first two sets, the Indians still had the advantage and the pressure was on the Panthers.
The Tribe responded in the same manner that helped it win two sets in the first place — with a point streak.
Senior Kendra Siefring served the Fort Recovery High School volleyball team six consecutive points and the Indians held off a pesky Paulding Panther squad to win in four sets Wednesday, 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20, in the Division III sectional semifinal.
“We knew we needed the momentum going into the fourth game,” said Siefring, who today was named to the All-MAC first team. “We didn’t start out that way, but we got down to business and from there we finished it.”
“(The win) feels really good. I am so happy for my team that we pulled through with this win.”
The Tribe (10-13) will play a familiar foe, MAC opponent Parkway — the Panthers beat Columbus Grove in straight sets Wednesday — for the sectional championship at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Rockford.

Kills from Kelsey Beck and Jaycie Varner as well as a pair of Beck aces helped Paulding (17-6) build the 6-1 lead to start the fourth set, but a net violation and a one-touch kill from Morgan Lennartz got the Indians within three, 6-3.
Arianna Posey slammed home a kill to make it 7-3, but an attack error gave the Indians the point and put the ball in Siefring’s hands.
Three consecutive errors and back-to-back Siefring aces put Fort Recovery ahead 9-7 to force PHS coach Josh Early into calling a timeout. FRHS sophomore Carley Stone, who earned all-MAC honorable mention, tallied one of her two blocks to extend the advantage to 10-7.
The Panthers clawed their way back to take a 14-13 lead before Stone tied it up with a quick set that the Panthers weren’t able to handle.
The Indians later had a 16-15 lead until Siefring took matters into her own hands. She had two solo blocks and assisted on another with Lennartz, helping the Tribe to a 19-15 lead to force Early to use the other timeout.
Paulding got back to within one, 21-20, but three consecutive points by Fort Recovery put the game out of reach.
Siefring helped her team’s cause on the offensive side of the ball as well, racking up a match-high 18 kills.
“Keep feeding her the ball,” Rogers said. “They got some touches on her but you still have to feed the beast no matter what. She’ll make an error or two, but she even got a couple (hits) in the back row that got us momentum.”
Cassidy Martin and Lennartz followed Siefring with seven kills each. Devin Post registered six, and Kirsten Jutte had five.
 Fort Recovery had streaks of six points in both the first and second sets as well. During the opening set, Siefring and Lennartz both tallied kills, and Lennartz also had one of her team-high five blocks, as the run put the Indians ahead 22-14, the biggest lead of the night for either team.
Trailing 7-5 in the second set, Siefring notched a kill and then served back-to-back aces, followed by consecutive kills from Lennartz. It aided Fort Recovery in taking 11-7 lead, until a 5-0 run from the Panthers later tied the score at 14. Another streak, this time four points, put FRHS ahead 21-16, and it scored four of the next eight for the win.
Early said the Panthers came out more timid than usual in the opening two sets.
“I would never say we play scared, but we were a little tentative,” he said. “We played back on our heels a little bit. But you get the ball slammed at you a few times that is human nature to do that.
“But they’d get a run of five, six or seven points … those streaks are what really killed us. We couldn’t recover.”
The Indians were winless in conference play this season, and Rogers said she was glad to finally play someone outside of the MAC.
“It is a fresh breath,” she said. “It is nice, but at the same time we’re going to hit one here” with Parkway in the next round.
There are four MAC schools — Division III No. 1 St. Henry, No. 3 Coldwater, Parkway and Fort Recovery — in the Kalida District. Since the Indians were 0-9 against MAC foes, Rogers is hoping for some payback. Parkway swept the Indians Sept. 24 in Rockford.
“I think not winning one in the league, that is why I’m (looking forward to playing) Parkway to get some revenge,” she said.