Indians fall to Senecas

ELIDA - In the regular season finale, Fort Recovery beat top-ranked New Bremen in three sets. In their first three matches of Division IV volleyball, the Indians wiped out Lima Central Catholic, Lincolnview and then beat a strong Marion Local team to win their first district title since 1991.

But in the Division IV regional semifinals, Fort Recovery crumbled under the pressure.

The Indians managed to pull out a victory in the third set, but otherwise found themselves outclassed against Tiffin Calvert on Thursday night on the way to a 21-25, 19-25, 32-30, 17-25 loss.

"Pressure got the best of us," Fort Recovery coach Travis Guggenbiller said. "First time we've been in a situation like this in a while. They just came out in a blaze of glory, they were on fire, they were ready to play, and we just let the pressure get to us tonight.

Coming in as underdogs to the Senecas (26-0), the Indians managed to hang tough in the opening of the first two sets before Tiffin Calvert pulled away. In the first set, the Senecas only trailed after the opening point, although Fort Recovery was able to keep within four most of the way. In the second set, the Indians had a 13-10 lead, but saw it erased immediately, and Tiffin Calvert went on a 6-1 run to finish off the set.

Throughout the night, the Senecas played flawless volleyball, while the Indians were plagued with miscommunications and errors.

"Not a lot of room for error," Guggenbiller said. "Tiffin's very solid, but they've been here a lot. Believe it or not, that makes a big difference. That's huge in my opinion."

Facing a sweep, Fort Recovery came out stronger in the third set. The Indians grabbed 7-4 and 13-10 leads, but the Senecas stormed back each time and finally pulled ahead 19-17 late in the set. Fort Recovery regrouped and went on a 7-2 run to reach set point, but couldn't put it away, as two Indians errors and a kill by Ashlyn Jones brought the Senecas back.

From there it was into extra points, and the two teams traded back and forth, with Fort Recovery leading most of the way, until a Paige Fortkamp kill was followed with a whistle against Tiffin Calvert for what appeared to be a minor net violation.

It was the first set the Senecas had lost since Oct. 5, and only the fourth all season.

"The girls didn't give up, and that's what we've been doing all year, not giving up," Guggenbiller said. "We keep fighting, we keep working hard, and that's the stuff I'm glad I saw from the team. We fought hard."

But the reprieve was short-lived, as Tiffin Calvert came back with its strongest set of the night. The Indians quickly fell behind 8-4 and never recovered. An ace from AJ Hemminger stretched the Senecas' lead to eight, and Fort Recovery never came closer than six the rest of the way.

The loss brought an end to a strong season for Fort Recovery (21-4), which tied for second in the MAC and reached the regional finals for the first time in a generation.

"You're not going to see the end of us," Guggenbiller said. "We'll be back."