Russia’s Claudia Hoehne bumps as Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie prepares to defend on Tuesday at Russia.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
RUSSIA – Fort Loramie volleyball beat the Russia Raiders on Tuesday 3-0 in straight sets at Russia high school in a Shelby County Athletic League contest.
“Russia was playing great,” Loramie head coach John Rodgers said. “You can’t take anything away from what was going on in that first set on their side.”
Fort Loramie (20-1, 11-0) took the first set 25-21, the second 25-16 and the third 25-5.
“We have a young core of girls,” Raiders head coach Aaron Watkins said. “Competing means something different for every team, but for us, we wanted to be in every set with a chance to win.”
Russia (10-12, 8-4) and Loramie duked it out in an entertaining first set where it seemed that neither team could get a grasp on the other for any sort of rally.
“I’m confident.” Rodgers reiterated. “I felt good the whole way through. It was just a matter of us tuning our game and getting focused in the direction we needed to get focused into.”
In the second set the Raiders fell behind 9-1 early when Watkins took his teams’ second and final timeout of the set. Despite losing in the set, Russia outscored Loramie 15-14 throughout the remainder of it.
“The first set was the best set we’ve played all year,” Watkins said. “I love that we’re doing that on the last game going into the tournament. Our tournament trail is not going to have anyone at the caliber of Fort Loramie.
“If we can match that energy and intensity we played with in the first two sets, we’re going to do some really good things. I’m excited about where we’re headed.”
The Raiders concluded their regular season with the loss and will compete in the Division VII district tournament as a five seed against four seeded Cedarville at Trotwood high school on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m.
“We know that we’re going to get everybody’s best going into tournament,” Rodgers said. “We have to be prepared for that. I’ve got great senior leadership who has been there before and know what it’s all about. They can keep emotions in check and get things done.”
Fort Loramie has one more regular season game against SCAL runners up Anna on Thursday at Anna high school at 6:30 p.m.
Reach sports writter / assistant editor Ryan Harless at 937-538-4651 or follow @RyanHarless_ on X (formerly Twitter).
