Off to a good start

FORT RECOVERY - Fort Recovery volleyball coach Travis Guggenbiller said his team still needed to work on some things after Tuesday's game with Celina.

Those things didn't seem to hamper the Indians as they improved to 4-0 with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-12 win over the Bulldogs at Fort Site Fieldhouse. The loss dropped Celina to 4-2 and snapped a three-match winning streak.

"We've been really trying to start off stronger," said Guggenbiller. "That showed in the first set, but (in the second set) it showed that we had some areas to work on, but the girls worked hard tonight."

The Indians jumped out quickly in the first set, getting the side-out right away. Hope Wendel served up six straight points to give the Indians a 7-0 lead. Marissa Gaerke followed with a five-point run that made the score 12-1. Until Amelia Lutz served up three straight aces, the only points Celina scored came on either hitting errors or service errors by the Indians. The Bulldogs managed just two service rotations that lasted more than one serve in the set.

The second set was a bit more competitive as the teams combined for nine ties and four lead change. Thanks to two aces by Chloe McNeilan and a kill by Lutz, Celina was up 9-6 before the Indians started to come back. Wendel had three service points and later Madelyn Knapke had two points that helped Fort Recovery take a 13-11 lead. Celina got back to within a point at 14-13, but Emma Kahlig served up a pair of aces to push the lead back to a safe total for the Indians.

"When we had passing our hitters couldn't put the ball away and when the hitters could put the ball away, then we'd miss the serve," said Celina coach Angela Bourne. "It seemed like we couldn't put everything together tonight."

The third set was much like the first as Fort Recovery led 4-1 out of the gate. Celina could stay as close as only three points at 13-10 before the Indians tallied 12 of the final 14 points. Paige Fortkamp had three kills down the stretch to put the Indians in control.

"We fought through (the second set) and did some nice things," said Guggenbiller. "We're not a clean team, yet. We had hitting errors and serving errors. But we're focusing on technique and you can see the improvement in technique."

Fortkamp finished with 12 kills. Whitley Rammel added 11 kills and three blocks. Kahlig had four aces with Wendel tallying three.

Maria Lutz had four kills to lead Celina. Amelia Lutz and Bourne each added three kills.

Celina won the JV match in two sets.

Both teams are in league play at home on Thursday. Fort Recovery hosts Parkway and Celina celebrates Senior Night against Elida.