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[ PREVIOUS STORIES ]

09-05-03: Celina cruises to second WBL win

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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