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Fort Recovery's Cameron Muhlenkamp (13) watches her shot as Celina's Olivia Uhlenhake (5) and Lilly Shreffler (10) defend during Monday's volleyball match at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
FORT RECOVERY - Fort Recovery struggled in the first set of their volleyball match with Celina on Monday. Missed hits and a lack of communication, blended with a feisty Bulldog defense on the other side of the net, set up the Bulldogs for 16-25.
All ended well for the Indians, however, as they rebounded to take the next three sets, 25-18, 25-16, and 25-18. to take the match between Mercer County teams at Fort Site Fiedlhouse.
"We've been an up and down team to start this season," said Fort Recovery coach Travis Guggenbiller. "The first set tonight felt like we have played a few times in the past week. It really boiled down to a lack of communication, but thankfully we figured it out and left with a good win tonight."
With senior Mylee Sapp behind the server's line, Celina gave themselves a little breathing room early in set one as they pulled ahead 10-5 and essentially never looked back. After pulling to within three points at 13-10 following a kill by senior Kennedy Muhlenkamp, that is as close as the home team would come in a set dominated by lightning-quick defense and punishing kills from Sapp and senior Kira Bange.
"We started out similarly tonight as we did on Saturday against Minster. We were super strong tonight," said Celina coach Amy Sutter. "We played very loose and with a lot of confidence, which is what we have been trying to instill in the girls in the first part of this season especially against the solid teams we face from the MAC."
Celina's Braelyn Ashmore bumps the ball to a teammate during Monday's match at Fort Recovery.
Both squads battled to ties on five different occasions at the onset of set two before Celina slid in front 9-7, but that was as good as it got for the visitors the rest of the way. The Indians managed to grab a stranglehold on the momentum midway through the set with sophomore Brynn Willmann dishing up point after point and senior Karlie Niekamp delivering floor-shattering kills to pull their team in command for good at 12-9. The Bulldogs pulled to within three points late in the game, but the Indians notched four of the last five points to take the set, 25-18.
"We switched our middles for the second set in order to force the girls to communicate a little more with that change," Guggenbiller said. "Making little changes like that seemed to help, and it was something we built on the rest of the night, so hopefully that can continue."
The third set for the Indians was continuously highlighted by their own style of quick, tenacious defense and riveting kills from Niekamp and Kennedy and Cameron Muhlenkamp as well as solid net play from their front row and a mid-set serving spurt of nine straight points by Willmann to eventually seal the 25-16 triumph.
Refusing to go away quietly, Celina regrouped at the opening of the fourth set to pull in charge 9-5 following back-to-back kills and a block from Sapp, along with a pair of service aces from junior Avery Niekamp. The lead was short-lived however, as Fort. Recovery chipped back into it and used another strong serving performance from Willmann to grab the lead and never give it back, rolling to the 25-18 victory, a win that was finalized with a monster kill from sophomore Bridget Homan for the exclamation point.
"Celina got a late surge in the fourth game, and I told the girls during our timeout to take it one ball at a time," Guggenbiller said. "We wanted to get the pass and then capture the momentum and keep going at them. We still have some things we need to work on with our defense, but overall the night ended how we wanted."
Fort Recovery's Kayla Fortkamp sets the ball to a teammate.
The Indians (6-3) were led on the evening by Kenna Dues, who was 18-for-18 serving, with 17 digs, and she was joined by Kennedy Muhlenkamp and Karlie Niekamp who combined for 23 kills.
Celina was paced by Haley Kizer with 37 assists and 17 digs, Sapp with 17 kills and six blocks, and Bange and Sidney Jenkins, who combined for 14 kills and 27 digs.
Both teams have New Bremen as an opponent this week. Celina travels to New Bremen tonight while Fort Recovery makes the trek east to Auglaize County on Thursday.
