'Riders capture home invite title

ST. MARYS - Teams came from far and wide to compete in the St. Marys Invitational at Murotech Court.

None of them could hold their ground against Fort Recovery or St. Marys.

For the second year in a row, the Indians and Roughriders squared off in the tournament finals after convincing wins in the opening round the and semifinals.

And for the second straight year, the Roughriders defeated the Indians in three sets to win the title.

Neither team had much drama leading up to the championship game. In fact, there was little drama in the first two sets of the final.

That was saved for the last set.

The Roughriders broke open a close first set near the middle and won 25-16. The Indians, who had let a three-point cushion slip away in the first set, retaliated with a 25-16 second set win.

Then came the fun.

After a series of ties and lead shifts, the Indians went up 11-6 in set three. St. Marys responded with a 4-1 run, capped by an Erika Angstmann kill, to trim the deficit to 12-10. That Fort Recovery lead was pushed back to 18-15 before an Ally Angstmann kill and ace helped knot the score at 18-all. St. Marys took a 20-19 lead on a dink by Taryn Swander. Natalie Kuenning followed with an ace and Erika Angstmann added a kill to extend the lead to 22-19. Another kill by Erika Angstmann brought the game to set point at 24-22. But then a hitting error on the Roughriders and an ace by Kendra Siefring knotted the match at 24-all. The teams traded errors to bring the score to 25-all, but two consecutive miscues by the Indians resulted in another tournament title for the home team.

"It's a game of momentum and it's a game of mistakes, and obviously, we made a few mistakes there, made some key hitting errors, but you've just got to play through it and stay mentally tough," St. Marys coach Monica VanderHorst said. "We got the kill when we needed the kill. We served pretty tough and they struggled to get the first pass up. You all know that if you can't get the serve, you can't run your offense. That was our problem in the second game. We had eight hitting errors in the second game and that was the ballgame right there."

Erika Angstmann had 21 kills and 18 digs in the finals' win. Ally added seven kills and 12 digs. Kuenning distributed 28 assists and 10 digs for the Roughriders, who improved to 6-2 on the season.

The Indians, battling injuries and positional shifts, drop to 4-4 overall. Siefring led the way in kills with 13 kills and 16 digs. Carley Stone had seven kills and Devin Post and Cassidy Martin added five kills each.

"I think the more we play, the better we'll be. I think when we get to the midway point, teams should be scared of us, especially if we get Morgan (Lennartz) back," Fort Recovery coach Chelsea Rogers said.

"Their middle (Siefring) does a great job," VanderHorst complimented. "She's sometimes hard to read because she has an unorthodox swing. I think (Carley) Stone did a nice job playing on that weak side there. We struggled to get lined up with her blocking wise. We see Fort Recovery all summer. They (would) come and play on Wednesday nights. Some of them play club together. It's a battle every time we play them."

The home team defeated Toledo Woodward in two sets during the opener, 25-2, 25-8. It wasn't much more of a challenge for the Roughriders in the semifinals, either. After defeating Allen East 25-12 in set one, St. Marys won by the same margin in the second. Ally Angstmann's service run helped St. Marys build an 8-3 lead. Allen East kept the score within six before Erika Angstman dropped down a few aces during a long service run that put St. Marys up 16-5 and in control for good.

The Indians defeated Spencerville 25-10, 25-12 in their opener. They received a better challenge from Old Fort in round two but came away a 25-18, 25-17 winner. The first set was close early, but Fort Recovery started to pull away after a couple thunderous kills by Carley Stone. The lead swelled from 10-8 to 17-9 and Old Fort never recovered. Set two was also close for a while, with no team taking a bigger advantage than three midway through (the Indians led 13-10). Old Fort took a brief lead at 16-15 before Fort Recovery went on a 6-0 run and finished off the job on a Grace Thien block.

Old Fort placed third. Pandora Gilboa finished fourth, Allen East fifth, Toledo Start sixth, Spencerville seventh and Toledo Woodward eighth.