Indians sweep Bulldogs at Fort Site

FORT RECOVERY - After having won the first two sets against Celina, Fort Recovery found itself trailing 18-12 in the third set when a timeout was called.

That woke up the Indians up as they got the sideout and outscored the Bulldogs 12-3 down the stretch for the 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 win in non-conference volleyball action at Fort Site Fieldhouse.

The win moves the Division IV third-ranked Indians to 12-1 on the season. The Bulldogs fall to 5-6 with all six losses coming against Midwest Athletic Conference schools.

"I think they're the strongest hitting team we've seen this year," Celina coach Amy Sutter said. "I think we were stunned initially by how hard and fast they were coming at us."

The Indians broke an 8-8 tie and pulled away during the service run of Kierra Wendel, who served up two aces and got a kill from Paige Jutte to put the Indians in front 17-10. Celina later cut the deficit to 20-18, only to have Jutte get a kill for the sideout. Brooke Kahlig served out the set with four straight points on kills by Madison Rammel and a block by Paige Fortkamp.

"They blocked us well," Fort Recovery coach Chelsea Kahlig said. "We're going to see that against MAC teams as the (conference) season goes on. This was good preparation."

Celina started blocking better in the second set, but Fort Recovery was on the charge. Cassidy Martin had a three-point run to break a 4-4 tie and the Indians played even with the Bulldogs the rest of the set en route to the win to make it a 2-0 match.

Celina's blocking started picking up steam in the third set as the Bulldogs led 5-1 early. Fort Recovery battled back to tie the set at 7-7. The teams were tied at 8- , 9- and 11-11 before Celina found some momentum through the serving of Jasmine Thees. She served up five straight points to put Celina in front 18-12. Maddy Luebke and Emma Guggenbiller both came up with big blocks for the Bulldogs to force coach Kahlig to call her second timeout of the set.

"I don't think they liked hearing (Celina) was outworking us," coach Kahlig said. "I think they got out there (after the timeout) and said 'This isn't happening.' "

"I think blocking was a big factor for us," Sutter said. "Maddy had a great game blocking and so did Maria (Lutz)."

Martin stopped the Celina run with a kill and Brooke Kahlig went back to serve. Martin had a block, Fortkamp added a kill and Rammel had another kill for a point to make it 18-16. Jutte, who had been quiet for most of the set, got the kill to make it 18-17 and then Fortkamp added a kill to tie the set at 18-all.

Celina got back the lead and went up 20-18, but a Rammel quick-set over the net added another point for the Indians. Rammel then teamed with Olivia Patch for a block to make it 20-all. Celina got the sideout, but Patch tallied a kill to tie the set again. With Rammel back on the serve, Brooke Gaerke had a kill to give the Indians their first lead of the set at 22-21. Patch and Fortkamp teamed up for a block and then Patch got a kill for match point. Fortkamp closed out the match with a stuff block.

"They still plugged away and got the win," coach Kahlig said. "(Blocking) was the big momentum change. We changed our defense the last coupe of games. We wanted to block line and we're not quite quick enough yet so we changed to blocking cross-court. That definitely helps our blockers."

"All of the sudden, we let up on defense," Sutter said. "We quit transitioning hard and quit playing hard on defense."

Martin had 10 kills for Fort Recovery with Rammel adding eight kills to go with 38 assists. Patch had five blocks and Hannah Knapke recorded 20 digs.

Guggenbiller had five kills to lead Celina. Luebke had six blocks and five digs. Samantha Carlin recorded 13 assists and eight digs.

Fort Recovery is home tonight for an MAC battle with New Knoxville. Celina returns home on Thursday to face Division III top-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf in a WBL battle.