A reassuring rally

FORT RECOVERY — A little reassurance is all it takes sometimes.
After nearly erasing an eight-point deficit, Tribe coach Chelsea Rogers told her team exactly what it needed to hear.
Then they said it amongst themselves, too.
And it worked.
The Fort Recovery High School volleyball team rallied from dropping the first set to win the next two, then overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth set to knock off the Minster Wildcats 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21 in a Midwest Athletic Conference showdown Tuesday at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
“It was great and unexpected because normally when we’re down we stay down,” said Devin Post, a Fort Recovery senior. “But we fought through and got the win.”
That pick-me-up came late in the fourth set, as the Indians (14-7, 3-5 MAC) trailed the Wildcats (13-8, 2-6 MAC) 19-11 with a two-sets-to-one advantage. Back-to-back Minster offensive errors and a Carley Stone kill shifted momentum in favor of the home team. A service error by the Tribe made it 20-14, but Cassy Martin came up with a kill to prevent any further damage.
On the next point, sophomore Brooke Gaerke notched perhaps the biggest of her three blocks, stopping the attack of Minster’s middle hitter Carly Barhorst. The Wildcat junior approached the set from Hayley Baumer and swung directly toward Gaerke at the middle of the net.
“Brooke had four kills and one block that was a huge momentum shifter in the fourth set,” said Rogers. “She does little things like that that gets the team going.”
Then it was Madi Rammel’s turn, recording two of her four kills on back-to-back points to get the Indians to within one, 20-19, and forcing Minster coach Cami Garman into calling a timeout.
That’s the point when Rogers, whose team was behind by four or more points in three of the four sets, gave the Indians solace.
“Out of that timeout when you have the momentum like that you just reassure the girls and get them back to what they need to do,” Rogers said.
Then Post wasn’t shy about what the Tribe had to accomplish.
“We have to focus, settle down, get our passes up and put the ball away,” she said.
And that’s what they did.
Stone sandwiched kills around a point from Jordyn Heitbrink to tie the score at 21, then an attack error and net violation by the Wildcats, a Stone kill and another swinging mishap secured the match for the Tribe.
“Like I said (Monday) after the win against Ansonia … when we get down like that we no longer panic and we’re more comfortable and confident,” Rogers said. “We don’t want to be in that situation but when we are I think the girls have a little more under them that they can make those comebacks.”
Rogers also commended Stone, who had a game-high 19 kills, for never letting up despite some early struggles.
“She’s been needing that,” she said. “She did get blocked a couple times but she didn’t let it affect her.”
Stone wasn’t the only Tribe player who had Minster get hands on her attacks, as the Wildcats racked up 22 blocks, eight of them in the first set. Baumer and Heitbrink — she also shared the team high of 10 kills with Rosie Westerbeck — finished with four apiece. Paige Thobe led the squad with eight blocks and Barhorst had three. 
Early in the first set, Baumer and Thobe combined for three consecutive blocks to help the Wildcats score six straight points for a 7-5 advantage.
“That is still something I thought we got a lot better toward the middle of the year at covering, but that is still a part of the game we’re still trying to get better at,” Rogers said. “At the same time, our hitters need to do a better job at slicing and getting around the block so it was a little bit of both.
“This game is all about momentum and we got the fire.”
Paige Jutte tallied seven kills, while Madi Rammel set up her teammates to the tune of 34 assists. Defensively, Kiah Wendel recorded 13 digs, Alexis Bubp and Stone both had a dozen digs, and Audra Metzger totaled nine digs. 

Junior varsity
Like its varsity counterpart, Fort Recovery dropped the opening set but didn’t lose again in a 23-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory over the Wildcats.
Hannah Knapke had a team-high 14 kills and Val Muhlenkamp followed with seven. Knapke also had 16 digs, and Brooke Kahlig led the squad with 20 digs. Rachel Acheson and Faith Kahlig totaled 12 and 10 assists respectively for the Tribe.
With the victory, the Indians move to 19-2 on the season.