Back-to-back

KETTERING, Ohio — There’s no clock in volleyball, so the victor is often decided by who makes the least mistakes and which team can control momentum.

Based on the start to the first set, things didn’t look good for the Indians. But they reclaimed the lead and reached 10 points first in all three sets en route to a sweep of the Wildcats.

Fort Recovery High School’s volleyball team rolled to a 25-11, 25-12, 25-14 victory over the No. 6 seed Houston Wildcats in the OHSAA Division VI Southwest 3 District championship hosted by Fairmont on Saturday morning.

“We did a great job controlling the game from start to finish, so I’m very proud of how our girls played,” FRHS coach Travis Guggenbiller said. “No matter what path you have, you’re going to face obstacles and you have to handle those obstacles that come your way. Our girls have really been focusing on how we get better each and every day.”

With the win, No. 2 seed Fort Recovery (13-12) earned its fifth district title and second in a row and a date with top-seeded Arcanum in the regional semifinal at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Northmont.

It was not the prettiest start for the Tribe Saturday, as it gave up the first four points on a Kenna Dues service error, a Brynn Willmann hitting error and a pair of Olivia Burks aces. Fort Recovery stole a point on an Olivia Maier service error, but Houston (10-15) went up 5-1 on a double hit by Kayden Ranly.

FRHS finally woke up to go on a 9-1 run with three Bridget Homan kills, two put downs by Cameron Muhlenkamp, an Alexis Grisez kill, two Ranly aces and a Muhlenkamp ace.

“We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on that in practice on how we want to start strong.” Guggenbiller said. “You win 80% of your games if you get first to 10 and are able to finish strong when you get to 20. Overall, I believe we were able to achieve a majority of that today.”

Fort Recovery went on early runs in the second and third sets. The Indians scored five points in a row in the second to go up 5-1 before another spurt of six unanswered gave them an 11-3 advantage. The teams traded points back and forth to start the third before another six straight points gave FRHS a 10-5 lead.

Along with winning the race to 10, the Tribe dominated from behind the service line. It collected 17 points (22.7%) on aces. Ranly led the way by dropping six balls in, while Willmann followed with five.

“Coach always tells us to stay aggressive behind the line,” Ranly said. “We knew coming in, that’s one of the areas we can take them out in. So I just really focused back there to make sure everything goes well.”

Along with the strong serving, the Tribe hitters found their groove. Muhlenkamp led Fort Recovery with 11 kills, while Homan and Willmann followed with nine and eight, respectively.

The spikers fed off of each other as they strung together four consecutive kills during two of their runs.

“I was happy about that,” Guggenbiller said. “We did a drill the other day where you lose a point if you don’t win your free ball sent your way. … They sent a lot of free balls over today because we were really aggressive and I thought our girls were able to put it on the court.”

While Fort Recovery returned three starters and another rotation player from last season, it had to grow with freshmen stepping into the libero and setter roles this season.

Next up, they will have a regional semifinal match against Arcanum (20-5), a team the Tribe swept during the regular season. A victory would then pit the team against Fairfield Christian or No. 2 St. Henry, which beat FRHS in three sets.

“It feels great to go from not even being .500 to being district champions,” said Muhlenkamp. “The biggest thing has just been being patient with each other. Obviously, when you have your libero and your setter, the two people who touch the ball the most, are freshmen, there’s going to be some mistakes and a lot of growing and learning.”