Bulldogs sweep Roughriders

CELINA - The Celina volleyball team dominated the first two games and then rallied late for a win in game three to sweep rival St. Marys - 25-12, 25-18 and 25-21 - on Thursday in Western Buckeye League action at the Intermediate School.

The Bulldogs (7-5, 3-1 WBL) are one of three teams (along with Van Wert and Wapakoneta) in a second-place tie behind first-place Ottawa-Glandorf (9-3, 4-0 WBL) in the league standings.

"We still had some up and down moments tonight, but I thought the girls came ready to play in the first two games and then battled in the third game to get out of here in three games," said Celina's head coach Amy Sutter.

Celina set the tone right from the start as the Bulldogs used a balanced offensive attack to jump in front 12-1 in the first game. Madison Weininger, Michaela Wenning, Kourtney Fark and Beth Homan all contributed at least one kill during the opening-game surge.

Wenning and Homan continued to dominate play at the net throughout the opening game as St. Marys' defense struggled to adjust to Celina's offense.

"That was not the way we wanted to start the match. We came into the match with a lot of confidence that we could compete with them, but we kind of let down from the beginning," said St. Marys' head coach Tricia Rosenbeck. "They have some great attackers on their side and we didn't do what we needed to do on defense. I'm not sure why we didn't bring the intensity when we were facing our rivals."

Weininger and Wenning combined for three early aces to open the second game and the Bulldogs again jumped out to a commanding early lead at 8-3.

Erika Angstmann and Lee Ann Bertke helped the Roughriders battle back as the duo combined for six kills to pull their team to within two points at 20-18. The Roughriders' rally was halted once unforced errors continued to pile up for the visitors. St. Marys had 13 errors alone in the second game and four of the last five points scored by Celina came via Roughriders' miscues.

A pair of aces by Lexi Roop gave St. Marys its first lead of the night and helped the Roughriders get off to a good start in the third game with a 14-7 advantage.

"Our communication was better to start the third game and we limited our errors in the early going and got off to a good start," said Rosenbeck.

Homan and Wenning helped the Bulldogs chip away at the Roughriders' lead with several cross-court kills, and a Beth Goettemoeller stuff block gave the Bulldogs their first advantage of the third game at 20-19.

"I thought that we weren't aggressive early on in game three, and I told the girls to get back to hitting the ball hard, and I think that made a difference for us as we made the comeback," said Sutter.

Reagan Aller then served up a pair of aces to give the Roughriders a 21-20 lead but those were the last two points of the night for St. Marys.

A pair of Roughriders' hitting errors gave Celina the lead at 22-21 before kills from Emily Dorsten and Homan gave the Bulldogs match point. Roop's spike into the net sealed the three-game win for the Bulldogs.

Wenning was the best player on the floor with 13 kills and eight blocks while Homan and Goettemoeller added five kills apiece. Weininger served up four aces and Dorsten contributed 26 assists.