Tribe upends Coldwater

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FORT RECOVERY – Kierra Wendel dived for a ball destined to hit the floor.

Somehow, she got an arm underneath it to keep the point alive, and moments later Cassidy Martin powered one of her double-digit kills.

Although it was the fourth set, Wendel was just warming up.

Wendel's key dig early in the fourth set was a precursor to her prowess at the service line and the Fort Recovery High School volleyball team's defense made things difficult for the Cavaliers in a 25-24, 20-25, 25-16, 25-10 victory at Fort Site Fieldhouse against Midwest Athletic Conference rivals Colwater.

“It's huge,” said Paige Fortkamp, who led the Division IV No. 3 Indians with 11 kills. “It's big momentum for us to keep going to beat all the bigger MAC teams ahead of us.”

It was the first victory for the Indians (14-1, 5-0 MAC) against the Cavaliers (10-5, 3-2 MAC), who finished 11th in the most recent coaches poll, since the 2010 sectional final.

“This is a different Fort Recovery team,” said FRHS coach Chelsea Kahlig, noting the squad played with a sort of determination she hasn't seen since the Tribe upset then-Division IV No. 1 New Bremen last year. “Our hitters had a great game. We're balancing the offense.

“I'm just so proud of our defense.”

Wendel only had five digs, but the play she came up with early in the fourth set was by far her biggest. It made the score 2-0 Fort Recovery, which later led 7-2.

Brooke Gaerke and Paige Jutte fired consecutive kills. The former sent Wendel to the service stripe while the latter forced Coldwater coach Nikki Etzler into using her first timeout.

Out of the break, Wendel recorded three aces in the span of the next four points – Olivia Patch and Gaerke teamed for a block to get the other – and back-to-back Cavalier errors made it 15-5 Indians and caused Etzler to use her final timeout.

But Wendel wasn't quite done yet, as she got another ace as her ensuing serve hit the tape and fell to the court.

That run was the dagger, as Coldwater never got more than one point at a time in the final set.

“The fact we haven't beat them in quite a few years helped the fire really,” said Fortkamp, one of three Tribe players to finish with 10 or more kills. “That's really what helped us.”

The Tribe's defense certainly never let up, either.

Lauren Gilliland, a Coldwater junior who committed to Ball State, is the bonafide leader for the Cavaliers, but senior Taylor Siefring is quite capable of producing offensively as well.

The Tribe's block, which often threw three in the face of Gilliland, disrupted the rhythm of the Coldwater duo despite the future Cardinal registering a match-high 16 kills.

“We know that any time we were serving aggressive and they couldn't get it ot the middle it was pretty obvious they were going to their outside,” Kahlig said. “It was just really easy for our blockers to read that.

“Gilland is a great player. She's hard to stop.”

One way the Indians were able to limit her was by keeping her in the back row.

With the match tied at one set apiece, Gilliand served with the Cavaliers trialing 7-4. As she was in the back of the court, Fort Recovery rattled off seven straight points, including a Fortkamp block and two Martin aces.

In all, Fort Recovery notched 12 blocks. Patch led the team with four, while Gaerke and Martin had three apiece.

“I think our block really helped us a lot and our defense just prepared really well for Gilliland tonight,” Fortkamp said.



Junior varsity

Coldwater nearly forced a third set but Fort Recovery was able to fend off the Cavaliers in a 25-19, 25-23 win.

Whitley Rammel and Marissa Gaerke led the Indians with six and five kills respectively, while Hope Wendel and Melisa Laux had three apiece. Brenna Homan contributed 10 digs, while Gaerke chipped in seven.