Indians defeat Panthers in four

ROCKFORD - After getting behind two sets to none to Fort Recovery, Parkway rode a wave of momentum into the fourth set following an easy 25-16 victory in the third.

The Indians, however, seized that momentum right back and finished the job.

Fort Recovery got behind early in the fourth set and then cranked up the volume. Trailing 7-4, the Indians received a kill by Morgan Lennartz and consecutive ones by Tori Lennartz, along with a pair of aces by freshman Carley Stone, to spark a 7-0 run. Fort Recovery never looked back on its way to a 25-15 victory, as it opened Division III sectional play with a 3-1 victory on the road.

The win avenges a five-set loss to the Panthers earlier in the season.

"After losing that third one, it was good to see us kind of fight there," Fort Recovery coach Chelsea Rogers said. "I think the aggressive serves and them having to get free balls allowed us to get set up offensively (in the fourth set). I think that was a big key."

The Indians advance to play at Western Buckeye League champion Ottawa-Glandorf in the Division III sectional final on Saturday at 6 p.m.

"I know that we have five hungry seniors and I know they aren't going to go down without a fight," Rogers said. "I'm very confident going up against O-G. I came from that area, so we played them every year I was up at Leipsic, so I'm very familiar with them. They have some seniors that have played all four years since they were freshmen. They have some veterans over there, but I think it'll be a good game."

The Indians jumped out to an 8-2 lead in set one. A Clista Hellwarth kill cut the Indian lead to four briefly but back-to-back spikes by Kendra Siefring pushed the lead back to six. The Panthers largest lead was eight. Another Hellwarth kill made it 22-17 and a hitting error by the Indians drew the Panthers to within four. That was the closest Parkway got. A Cassidy Rammel block and Tori Lennartz kill closed off the set at 25-20.

Fort Recovery charged out to another big lead to open set two, with Stone's kill and Siefring's ace making it 8-2. It would be a match of runs from there. Parkway put together a three-point run before the Indians responded with a five-point run. The Panthers countered with a five-point run to cut the deficit to 16-12. Later in the set, Madison Roehm's block capped a four-point burst to trim the FR lead to 20-17, the first time Parkway had been within three since it was 5-2. The Panthers cut the lead to one twice before finally tying it on a FR hitting error at 23-all. But Tori Lennartz's kill and a hitting error on Parkway completed a 25-23 victory for the Indians.

The two squads traded blows in set three, before Parkway took control. Kayla Stephenson's second kill of the set put the Panthers up 8-6 and they ran the score to 14-7 from there. Parkway maintained a 4-7 point cushion the rest of the way.

"I think (the momentum changed) at the end of the second," Parkway coach Jeff Marbaugh said. "The first two sets were not good starts. We fought our way back in the first one, did better in the second, got close. We controlled the ball more in the third game. That's been our story the whole season; when we control the ball, we can play with anybody.

"That followed through in the fourth. We had a good back-and-forth set going on and then we just couldn't get that serve-receive going. That's what I told them. Late in the second and most of the way through the third we got balls up in the air to attack. At the wrong time in the fourth game, it just kind of fell apart for us in a stretch."

Stephenson led Parkway with 10 kills on the evening.

The Panthers finish the season with a record of 11-12.

Siefring had a game-high 18 kills and added 13 digs. Stone, a freshman who was called up just a handful of games ago, contributed 12 digs and had a huge service streak during the game-deciding run in the fourth set.

"She needs to eat whatever she had for breakfast on Saturday," Rogers joked.

Rachel Pugh led Fort Recovery with 18 digs and Maddie Grover dug up 15. Cassidy Rammel dished out 22 assists and had four kills.