No slowing down

FORT RECOVERY - After losing its first volleyball match of the season last Thursday, Fort Recovery was able to bounce back with wins over Arcanum and South Adams over the previous three days.

But Tuesday night at Fort Site Fieldhouse was different, a Midwest Athletic Conference matchup with conference co-leader Marion Local, a team that suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday to Division III top-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf.

The Indians, ranked ninth in this week's Division IV state poll were on a mission, and accomplished it with a 25-16, 27-25, 28-26 sweep of the second-ranked Flyers.

"Icing on the cake today," said Indians coach Travis Guggenbiller of the win. "I'm so proud of our mental toughness today. At (New) Knoxville we kind of took ourselves out. The girls had been fighting against themselves. I told them they'll have those games and have to stay strong."

Fort Recovery (10-1, 3-1 MAC) got great serving, especially in the first set as Faith Wendel served up an ace during a three-point run to give the Indians a 9-4 lead. Then Paige Fortkamp served up two aces as part of a six-point run to raise the margin to 16-7. The Flyers got as close as five points before the Indians put the set away.

"It really was the best-serving game we've had all year," said Guggenbiller. "That was awesome."

The Flyers came out competing in the second set and went on a five-point run on the serve of Lydia Griesdorn to jump out to a 16-12 lead. Fort Recovery roared back as Marissa Gaerke served up four straight points to put the Indians in front 20-17. The Flyers fought back and rallied from down 22-24 to tie the set thanks to two Tribe hitting errors to level the set. However, Marion could not regain the lead as kills by Whitley Rammel and Gaerke closed out the set.

"It comes down to execution," said Marion coach Anthony Chappel. "(Fort Recovery) obviously had a chip on their shoulder after (the New Knoxville) loss. They battled back well."

The third set was a carbon copy of the second set, with the Flyers working their way back to lead 13-9 via a six-point run by Heidi Rethman.The Indians tied the set at 16-all and took a 19-17 lead as Kierra Wendel served up two points. Later, Fort Recovery was up 23-21 and had the serve, but a lift call gave the Flyers a chance to tie and they did so on a kill by Lindsey Koenig at 23-all. Fort Recovery got the next point and the serve for match point, but another lift call tied the set at 24-all. A Rammel kill gave the Fort another match point at 25-24, but Alana Pohlman got a kill of her own to tie the set again. A kill by Nora Eckstein gave the Flyers set point at 26-25, but Fortkamp tied the set again with a big kill. With Gaerke back to serve, Rammel came up with a big block for match point and then got a kill to close out the victory.

"I kept telling the girls I thought we were in control all three sets," said Guggenbiller. "Even when (Marion) was ahead of us (and) we were making silly mistakes. I kept telling them we had to keep doing what we knew best. … Marion is a fantastic team. Well-coached and fantastic athletes that had big plays. I thought our girls didn't let their big plays affect us. That was the big thing."

"They have a great team, but also have two great players in Fortkamp and Rammel," said Chappel. "Those two stepped up big time."

Fortkamp finished with 13 kills with Rammel adding nine kills and seven blocks. The Indians recorded 11 aces with Kierra Wendel serving up four and Fortkamp adding three.

Pohlman had 10 kills and seven blocks for Marion (11-2, 3-1 MAC). Rethman had four aces and 20 assists.

Both teams return to MAC action on Thursday. Fort Recovery travels to St. Henry and Marion Local returns to the Hangar to host Minster.