By RYAN HINES
rhines@dailystandard.com
As the Celina volleyball team begins its quest for a third consecutive
Western Buckeye League title, there’s no doubt that the
Bulldogs will be challenged to the limit against some very good
league teams.
It just so happens that Celina has yet to face those good league
teams through the first two games of the WBL season.
Celina made quick work of Shawnee 15-4, 15-3 on Thursday at
Celina Intermediate School to remain undefeated in league play.
The Bulldogs now improve to 4-1 overall on the season and 2-0
in the WBL.
In the first league game of the season last week against Van
Wert, Celina showed signs of nervousness before rolling to an
easy win. This time around, the nerves were gone and the Bulldogs
just went out, played confidently from start to finish and rolled
to an easy win.
“I think that the girls are becoming confident in themselves
and in each other and I think that was evident tonight,”
said Celina head coach Nikki Taylor-Etzler. “All the girls
know what we are striving for and are working hard to accomplish
those things. There are definitely things that we need to work
on to get better to accomplish the things that we need to do.”
With the score tied at 2-2 in the first game, Celina reeled
off six straight points to take an 8-2 lead forcing a Shawnee
timeout.
Sarah Lange paced Celina to the early 8-2 lead with three kills
while Jamie Siefker added two kills.
Shawnee got as close as 9-4 in the first game, but Celina responded
quickly winning the final six points to cruise to the game one
win.
Tricia Vander Horst picked up two of those points off a kill
and a block to lead the way for the Bulldogs while Lange added
a pair of kills.
Celina led from start to finish in game two as Shawnee didn’t
put up much of a fight. The Bulldogs took control early in game
two jumping out to a 6-2 lead before Shawnee called a timeout
hoping to slow down the Celina onslaught.
Errors allowed Celina the early lead as the Indians handed the
Bulldogs five of their first six points via Shawnee errors.
Shawnee did pick up an ace from Erica Sanko to close the Celina
lead to 6-3, but that’s when things completely got out
of hand for the Indians.
Celina sophomore Jessica Wagner entered the game to handle the
serving chores and when her service was up, the Bulldogs led
12-3.
Shawnee couldn’t handle Wagner’s serve as the Indians
committed five errors leading to five of Celina’s six
points during the run.
Once Celina regained the serve, Traci Stoner stepped behind
the line and served out game two as Lange and Kelsey Fleck blasted
kills to put the game and match away at 15-3.
“We always expect our A-game everytime that we get out
on the court,” said Taylor-Etzler. “We want to play
to our capabilities each time that we play and just focus on
how we can get better as a team. We have a lot of perfectionist
players on our team so that makes my job easier when we play
against a team that we are beating to keep themselves focused.”
Lange was the top hitter for Celina with eight kills to go along
with a block and an ace while Kelsey Fleck, Hone and Vander
Horst each had three kills apiece.
“Tricia Vander Horst, Betsy Hone and Sarah Lange played
very well,” said Etzler-Taylor. “They all came out
aggressive and Jessica Wagner served the ball very well at the
end of game two and put the ball where we wanted it. It was
just another team effort for us tonight. Everyone that played,
contributed.”
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