Marietta volleyball sweeps Fort Frye
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MARIETTA -- Thursday night's match against Fort Frye provided the Marietta Tigers an opportunity to learn and grow.
On a night where the orange and black didn't play their best, MHS was able to claim a win in straight sets by scores of 25-19, 25-18 and 28-26.
"We've played better," said Marietta head coach Ron Kidder. "Got off to a slow start and played about the same pace all the way through. Didn't play well tonight. Fort Frye played well. Give them credit. We've got to bring some kind of excitement to the game. I didn't think we quit. We even got down and regrouped and kept going. Give the girls credit. They don't got a lot of quit in them."
It's been a strong season so far for the Tigers, who are 9-1 as they approach the halfway point. Thursday's win over the Cadets made them 1-0 in the Twin State League.
"We've got a good team," Kidder said. "We just have to make sure we come to play every night. There's 22 matches, and it's tough. We upped our scheduled this year. We play some really good teams, and we need that. We want to get ready for tournament. I don't want to be playing great right now. I want to be playing great toward the end of the season. I don't want to be peaking right now. I want to be able to go back to practice and work on things we didn't do right. That's what we're going to do to get ready for the end of the season."
Fort Frye dropped to 2-6 overall this season with a home matchup against Linsly at noon Saturday looming.
"We've stepped it up from the beginning of the season," said Fort Frye head coach Amanda Duskey. "We are playing much better together. They are firing on all cylinders. They're learning to play together more now."
The Cadets led 13-10 in the first set, but three straight kills by Marietta's Anna Ritter gave the Tigers some momentum. Ritter and teammate Emma Middleton then combined for a block to put the Tigers up 15-14, and they led the rest of the way to win 25-19.
A pair of kills from Tori Dawson and a block by Izzy Becker had MHS up 4-3 early in the second set, but Kianna O'Brien answered with two kills to put the Cadets up 8-6. Momentum shifted in Marietta's favor thanks to two kills by Arianna Buckley and an ace by Middleton. Later, two more downed spikes by Buckley put the Tigers up 13-11. Fort Frye hung around thanks to a block by Jackie Tornes and kills by Alyssa Duskey and Carmen Henniger, but an ace by Ritter and kills by Buckley and Becker helped Marietta take eight of the final 11 points to win 25-18 and go up 2-0.
Looking to sweep, Marietta jumped out to an 11-7 lead in set No. 3, but Fort Frye rallied to tie it at 13-all thanks to kills by O'Brien and Jenna White.
Middleton and Ritter answered with kills of their own to help Marietta take a 20-16 lead and prompt a Fort Frye timeout. The Cadets responded with a 6-1 run, fueled by Henniger's kill and ace, to take a 22-21 lead. Middleton recorded a kill to tie it back up before freshman Braxtyn Kroft got a kill of her own to put the Tigers up one. Taylor Karcher assisted Dawson on a kill to make it 24-22, but Duskey's kill and White's block forced a 24-24 tie.
Becker's kill put Marietta up 26-25, but Paige Morgenstern answered with a downed spike to knot it back up. Finally, the Tigers locked it down thanks to Becker's block and a hitting error by the Cadets.
Coach Duskey was pleased with her team's effort, especially in the final set.
"Marietta's a really good team," she said. "Kidder's got a really good program. We are just now learning that we can do this. The girls are finally deciding they can hang with the good teams like that."
Kidder was able to rotate his entire varsity roster into the match.
"We got everybody in tonight, so I think a lot of kids are happy," he said.0" We've just got to keep working and keep getting better. We've got some big games ahead of us."
The Tigers, whose only loss was to Circleville, are back in action Tuesday when they visit Parkersburg South for a tri-match with the Patriots and Huntington.
"We won in three, but it wasn't pretty," Kidder said. "Tonight I think they learned we've got some work to do. I tell the kids, 'You either win, or you learn.' Tonight we won, and we learned. I think that'll help us."