Wednesday, September 10th, 2014

Wildcats shut down 'Riders

By Robb Hemmelgarn
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Minster's Erica Oldiges, 7, tries to get the ball past St. Marys' Ally Angstmann, 8, and Courtney Voisard during Tuesday's non-conference volleyball match.

ST. MARYS - For the second time in four days, the Minster Wildcats volleyball team hit the road to tangle with a Western Buckeye League foe.
And for the second time in four days, head coach Cami Garman's girls returned home triumphant.
The Wildcats tackled the St. Marys Roughriders last evening at Murotech Gymnasium and notched a 31-29, 25-14, and 25-20 victory.
"We seem as if we are finally starting to find our groove," Garman said, whose squad defeated Celina in four sets on Saturday. "We have been practicing hard, and the girls have been pushing themselves to improve. We have done a great job in the past couple of games of building our confidence and working well as a team, so it will be very important to keep that going."
The Wildcats opened the first set against Monica VanderHorst's Roughriders and held no more than a two point advantage, only to have an unreturned tip by St. Marys sophomore Ally Angstmann and a pivotal block by her sister Erika, who finished the match with a game-high 18 kills, give the home team an 11-10 edge. With the younger Angstmann and junior Natalie Kuenning behind the server's line, St. Marys fluffed their cushion to four points at 15-11, but the Wildcats knotted things up a few minutes later at 16-16 thanks to a St. Marys hitting error.
Neither team held more than a two-point lead as the contest rolled into extra points. With things even at 29 points, Minster's Hannah Schmitmeyer served up the final two points of the game for the 31-29 victory.
"St. Marys really pushed us hard in game one from the very start and kept it up all the way through," Garman said. "We fell behind, but our girls did a good job of making adjustments especially when we had a few untimely errors in game-point situations. We pushed through those parts of the game and that mental toughness is what ended up winning it for us."
Game two began and was just as competitive as the opener until Minster senior libero Cassie Jutte served up four straight points to extend her team's lead to 12-8 at the midway point. The Wildcats methodically buried St. Marys the remainder of the way and rolled to the 25-14 victory, which put them up 2-0.
"The first game was a great battle back and forth, but then we came out in the second game and just couldn't get anything started," explained VanderHorst. "We didn't get a lot of solid attacks in the second game and that is something you need to have if you expect to win."
Mimicking the theme of the first two games, the two squads went toe-to-toe at the onset of the third game before remarkable attacking by Minster's Erica Oldiges and Lauren Roetgerman (who combined for 20 kills in the contest) gave their team the permanent advantage at 13-8. St. Marys refused to fold easily, and although they pulled to within a point on several occasions throughout the rest of the game, Minster kept them at bay and took the decisive third game, 25-20.
"Tonight was one of the first games where I really felt that our attackers all really took it to the opponent," Garman said. "Hannah (Schmitmeyer) was swinging hard and the middle hitters – Erica Oldiges and Lauren Roetgerman – did a great job of continually pounding the ball."
Both teams are back in action Thursday. Minster (7-4) hosts the New Knoxville Rangers in Midwest Athletic Conference action and the Roughriders (6-5) entertain the Elida Bulldogs in a WBL tilt.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Natalie Kuenning sets the ball to a teammate.

Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Rachel Meier prepares to bump the ball to a teammate during Tuesday's match with Minster.

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Subscriber and paid stories on this date
CELINA - An overnight fire destroyed a large barn packed with hay on Miller Road, north of the city.
The 40-by-100-foot structure was fully engulfed when firefighters from Celina, Chattanooga, Rockford and Coldwater arrived at the farm of Ken Hellwarth, 4590 Miller Road, after 11 p.m.
$415,000 work to satisfy FAA regs
MONTEZUMA - Lakefield Airport officials on Tuesday were given the green light by Mercer County Commissioners for a nearly $415,000 project to satisfy new Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations.
CELINA - Mercer County Commissioners - with strong support from several East Jefferson Township residents - on Tuesday decided to seek a nearly half million dollar grant to replace aging water lines north of Grand Lake.
WAPAKONETA - New statewide tattoo and body-piercing regulations were enacted Sept. 1 to regulate the use of piercing guns, ensure parental approval for minors and promote safety.
CELINA - Mercer County Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to pay nearly $150,000 to a local contractor to pave and perform other work on two employee parking lots.
ROCKFORD - Parkway Local Schools board members voted Tuesday night in favor of a memorandum of understanding with the Parkway Education Association supporting new teacher evaluation rules. Teachers must now vote on whether to accept the changes for this year.
CELINA - Felony charges have been filed against a 22-year-old Celina man accused of using social media to arrange a meeting with a teen for sex at her Rockford-area home on Sunday.
NEW BREMEN - Village council members Monday discussed projects to promote safety at the electrical building and upgrade ball diamonds at Bremenfest Park.
Business caters to people visiting area
COLDWATER - Janet Gels is always looking for a way to give back to her community.
Sunday afternoon Gels and her husband, Ralph, had an open house at The Gels Home Bed & Breakfast at 507 N. Second St., Coldwater.
COLDWATER - A new owner is at the wheel of an established automative shop in the village.
Neal Marchal, 25, purchased the business at 300 Hardin St. from Bill Braun and renamed it Neal's Hardin Street Automotive. He's been swamped, he said.
ST. HENRY - St. Henry used excellent serving and strong defense to pick up a three-set win over Lehman on Tuesday night in a battle of state-ranked Division IV volleyball teams at Redskin Gymnasium.
CELINA - The Celina girls soccer team came out in attack mode in the first half Tuesday night against Coldwater and didn't let up.
A night removed
Tuesday's Area Roundup
Compiled by Colin Foster and Gary R. Rasberry
Payton Smalley had two goals, Ryan Hoyng had a goal and two assists and Celina improved to 2-1 in Western Buckeye League boys soccer action with a 6-0 shutout at Defiance.