Full force attack

FORT RECOVERY — Some nights, things just don’t go your way. Other nights, everything goes your way.

Nearly everything was going right for Fort Recovery on Monday evening, as the team that oozed confidence dominated almost every aspect of the game.

The Division III No. 8 Fort Recovery High School volleyball team was riding a high after a victory over Division IV No. 9 Marion Local as they steamrolled the Newton Indians 25-17, 25-9, 25-13 on Monday.

Fort Recovery (10-2) was clicking on all cylinders, with a wide breadth of players contributing to the winning effort.

“It was a good game. It was nice to see how the girls came out on a Monday,” FRHS coach Travis Guggenbiller said. “It always gets you a little nervous when you have Homecoming on that Saturday and you start a game on a Monday. … The girls just showed up really well today, and that's everyone. I mean, we had all 11 of our girls contribute in some way, and that’s nice to see.”

Three players had six or more assists, five players had five or more kills, five players served aces and three blocked attacks.

Kennedy Muhlenkamp ran the offense as the setter for a large majority of Fort Recovery’s rotations. The ball often came to her while Fort Recovery was in system, allowing her to choose between some of her harder hitters like Teigan Fortkamp and Mara Pearson, or finding one of the middles like Paige Guggenbiller, Saige Leuthold or Karlie Niekamp.

“It was nice. We changed the lineup so it gave me more options,” Muhlenkamp said. “The passes were really good tonight and they were on fire. I know that wherever I get the ball, they’re going to put it away.”

During the first set, Muhlenkamp and Kayla Heitkamp found their middles more often for soft kills over Newton’s tall blocker, Sienna Montgomery. They found Leuthold three times and Paige Guggenbiller and Niekamp twice. Muhlenkamp also had three kills when Heitkamp was out on the floor.

Kayla Heitkamp sets a ball during Fort Recovery's 25-17, 25-9, 25-13 win over Newton on Monday afternoon. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

The second set was more dominated by Pearson (three) and Fortkamp (five) while in the third the ball was spread around some more.

Muhlenkamp ended with 15 assists and Heitkamp with 14. Fortkamp tallied the most kills with 12. Olivia Rupp led Newton with six.

“We just mixed the ball up really well today,” Guggenbiller said. “I thought our setters did a really nice job of finding the hitters. … We served really aggressively today. We had eight aces but we had a lot of it where we only allowed them to have one hitter that they could set because they were out of system.”

Muhlenkamp, Pearson and Kensey Gaerke all had two aces while Fortkamp and Cali Wendel each added one.

Fort Recovery really took control of the match in the second set. Newton (11-3) was hanging with Fort Recovery for a one-point set at 6-5 before Pearson took a big swing for a kill that sparked a four-point run.

Newton took one point back when Fortkamp went for a hit from Bella Hall that was about to sail long. She made up for it on the next play with a kill from the back row on a broken play. That sparked a five-point point run when Pearson served up two aces in a row.

“We really just realized that power was something that we could get off this team,” Pearson said. “They didn't have a strong blocker or like a strong player to go towards. So, we really just were able to just full-go on anybody. That helped a lot.”

Fort Recovery went on a massive run to start the third set to go up 10-1. From there, they cruised to the finish.

Newton’s best set was the first, keeping the match close but they just couldn’t string enough points in a row to develop the momentum required to take a lead.

“We just saw this as an opportunity to compete at a higher level, which we are excited about,” Newton coach Danita Rapp said. “I'm not disappointed in the fact that I saw some new things from my team. I saw us kind of rise to the challenge, which is really what our biggest goal for tonight was.”

Guggenbiller is pleased with how his team has bounced back after suffering two losses to ranked opponents. He hopes they will keep the energy, confidence and momentum as they take on Division III No. 3 St. Henry on Thursday.

“I see what I'm doing in practice being applied into the game, and that's what you want every day, to see your growth within the team,” Guggenbiller said. “We want to peak right at the end of the season. So we're making those steps towards that right direction. The girls are playing really well as a team, and they're really fun to coach.”