Fort Recovery loses late lead

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians have had a tough time closing out matches this season.
After giving up the lead in the fourth set and sitting three points away from defeat, the Fort Recovery High School volleyball team rallied to force a fifth with a 25-23 win.
But with an 11-7 lead in the final set, the Tribe gave up an 8-1 run to the Lehman Catholic Cavaliers in a five-set loss Monday night at Fort Site FIeldhouse.
“It’s been the theme of this year, finishing,” said FRHS coach Chelsea Rogers, whose team lost to the visiting Cavaliers 25-20, 15-25, 25-12, 23-25, 15-12. “Taking away maybe three sets (this year) we have been points away from winning.
“That makes it frustrating, but at the same time it just means we are right there. I keep telling the girls we are a big game away from coming over the edge.”
Sophomore Carley Stone sandwiched two of her 13 kills around an attack error by Lehman Catholic (11-5) to give Fort Recovery (8-9) an 11-7 lead in the fifth set.
The Cavaliers then ran off five consecutive points — an attack error by the Tribe, two kills from Marianne Hissong and one each from Ellie Scott and Maddy McFarland. During that time, Rogers called a timeout with an 11-9 lead, but Lehman Catholic kept the momentum.
And after Stone notched her final kill of the match to tie the score at 12, three consecutive kills — two of which deflected off the attempted block from Fort Recovery — gave Lehman Catholic the marathon win.
“We knew coming in they were going to have a good team,” said LCHS coach Greg Snipes. “Being down in that fifth game, I’m glad to come out with a win tonight.”
Lehman Catholic’s run to close the match was similar to how it was able to take the lead in the first and third sets.
Trailing 7-6 in the opener, five consecutive points gave them the lead and they didn’t trail for the remainder of the set, despite the Indians tying the score at 13 and again at 14.
Hailey Wick and Scott both tallied kills during the 5-0 run, and junior Sidney Chapman recorded an ace from the service line.
Chapman, who had a game-high 26 kills, spiked the ball through the FRHS defense to start another five-point streak, during which the junior had back-to-back aces.
“That is her every night for us,” Snipes said of Chapman. “She does a great job. She leads us on offense.”
Hissong and McFarland — the latter of whom was second on the Cavs with 11 kills — helped Lehman Catholic to a 10-4 run to close out the middle set.
Just as the visitors used lengthy runs, the home squad did as well.
Kendra Siefring, who led the Indians with 17 kills, tipped the ball to the back right corner behind the Cavalier defense to tie the score at 14 in the second set. She then served the Tribe to seven consecutive points, and Madi Rammel rattled off another three from the service line as Fort Recovery won 25-15 to even the match at one set apiece.
Stone had back-to-back kills around a Lehman Catholic timeout early in the fourth set, helping the Indians to a 7-3 lead. Siefring, who has committed to play at Ohio Dominican, later had three kills as the Indians used a 5-1 run to force the fifth set.
Kirsten Jutte and Devin Post both had nine kills for the Indians, and Jutte also had 27 assists. Madison Grover tallied 31 digs, with Morgan Lennartz and Siefring totaling seven blocks apiece.
Although the Indians fell back below .500, Rogers said she is still seeing improvement from her squad.
“I told them we’re just working for (the postseason) tournament and making progress,” said Rogers, whose team continues Midwest Athletic Conference play at home Thursday against the Minster Wildcats. “They’ve made progress.”

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery made easy work of Lehman Catholic in a 25-17, 25-15 victory.
Hannah Knapke and Kiah Wendel had seven and five kills respectively to lead the Indians. Jill Roessner chipped in with 10 assists and Audra Metzger added nine. Natalie Homan had four aces.
Knapke paced the FRHS defense with 14 digs. Metzger had five digs and Wendel totaled four. Brooke Gaerke, Carly Link and Grace Thien each had one block.