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Fort Recovery players and coach Travis Guggenbiller, far right, celebrate during Saturday's Division VI district final at Fairmont High School in Kettering. The Indians swept Houston to advance to the regional on Wednesday at Northmont.
KETTERING - An early wake up did not slow down the Fort Recovery Indians, as they swept Houston 25-11, 25-12, 25-14 to win the Division VI Southwest District title at Fairmont High School's Trent Arena in Kettering.
With the win, the Indians will advance to the regional semifinal against Arcanum, which defeated. Cincinnati Country Day.
The match started slow for Fort Recovery as Houston won the first four points of the opening set. That was in part due to a service error to lead off the match, followed by a spike hitting the net.
Trailing 4-0, Fort Recovery got the serve back after the Wildcat's serve went long. Houston did respond well to push it to 5-1, but the Indians started to wake up after.
With Kayden Ranly serving, Fort Recovery won the next six points in a row to take a 7-5 lead, before Houston got the serve back. This run included a pair of aces from Ranly, along with a pair of kills from Bridget Homan.
Fort Recovery's Bridget Homan (25) spikes the ball past Houston's Olivia Burks during Saturday's Division VI district final at Trent Arena in Fairmont.
"We lost the first point of every set, but we stayed poised and confident throughout," Fort Recovery Coach Travis Guggenbiller said.
After cutting the lead to 7-6, Houston's run ended there when Cameron Muhlenkamp got a kill. That made it 8-6 in favor of Fort Recovery, and the lead grew to 10-6 after another quick run.
Later in the set with Fort Recovery leading 16-10, Brynn Willmann used a pair of aces to aid another run by the Indians. That made it 20-10 before Houston could get the serve back, but the Wildcats' run was short lived.
Ranly got the serve again at 21-11, and never let it go. Two more aces and four total points later, Fort Recovery took the first set. All in all, the Indians had seven aces in the opening set and that carried over into the second frame.
Both teams split the first two points of the second set, and Kenna Dues got the ball for the Indians at 1-1. Two more aces and Wildcat errors later, the score sat at 5-1.
After Houston cut it to 6-3, Willmann got another chance to serve and did not disappoint. Two aces in a row along with a kill by Muhlenkamp forced a Houston timeout as Fort Recovery's lead grew to 11-3.
The teams traded points following the big Indian run before Kayla Gaerke got the serve with the score sitting at 15-8. Two more aces by the freshman forced another Wildcat timeout, but the carnage did not stop there. The lead swelled to 19-8 thanks to a kill from Willmann before Houston finally got the serve back.
"We spend about a third of our practice on serving," Guggenbiller added, "You have to have strong first ball contact to make it far, I think we did a nice job getting (Houston) out of their system."
A back and forth end to the set ended with another Ranly ace to give Fort Recovery a 2-0 and put Houston on the brink.
Fort Recovery's Kayden Ranly (11) sets the ball as Brynn Willmann (9) runs up to the net.
The third set was much of the same for Fort Recovery. After grabbing a 5-4 lead via a Muhlenkamp kill, Gaerke helped start another run from the service line. Two more Willmann kills and an ace highlighted the stretch, and it pushed the lead to 10-4 before a service error ended the threat.
Houston fought hard and made Fort Recovery earn its next six points, but the writing was on the wall. Leading 16-8, Ranly hit another ace that just found the back corner and it forced a timeout by Houston.
Two kills from Muhlenkamp later, it was 19-9 Indians. They closed out the set and match after another Muhlenkamp kill. It confirmed what many Fort Recovery fans had sensed since the opening set, an Indian sweep.
It was a big win for the Indians, not only keeping their postseason run intact, but against a veteran team such as Houston, a sweep feels all the better.
"Everyone has their superstars and we want to slow their superstars down. We did a nice job of communicating. You can take a team out by strong communication." Guggenbiller said.
