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‘It ain’t over’: Tigers rally from 2-0 deficit to beat Cadets

By Jordan Holland 6 min read

BEVERLY -- Trailing 2-0 and on the verge of being swept Thursday at Fort Frye, Marietta flipped the script.

The Tigers reeled off three straight victories to complete a come-from-behind, 16-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-19, 15-11 triumph at Dan Liedtke Court.

Marietta head coach Ron Kidder has tallied more than 500 wins in a coaching career that has spanned nearly three decades, but five-set wins have been fairly elusive.

"We haven't went five sets with teams very often, but the ones where we've went five sets and won is some of the most exciting volleyball I've been a part of," said Kidder, whose Tigers improved to 3-0 and play host to Linsly on Saturday.

"We got down two and I told the girls, 'it ain't over. You can't win the match right here, but you can win the set, then you get the next set, and you go from there.' Most of the time you win the fourth -- 80% of the time, probably -- you'll win the fifth. They believed it, and they just started playing better."

Rylee Wilkinson had a monster game, posting a match-high 36 kills and four blocks. It was Wilkinson's spike that sealed the fifth and final set.

"This is a high-intensity place to play," said Wilkinson, a sophomore. "It’s a big game for us. They’re nearby, close school, so it means a lot to us. We know some of the girls, so I think in our hearts we wanted to win. We wanted to play for each other, and that’s what we did."

Marietta's passing was on point throughout the match. Ava Prim led the team with 35 digs, Maevry McCombs added 29 and Clara Becker chipped in 20, while setters Addie Graham and Laylah Bradford tallied 36 and 18 assists, respectively.

"I have great setters," Wilkinson said. "They set me up great. It’s so easy to get a kill off of them. I’m really just thankful for them."

The Cadets came out guns blazing, jumping all over the Tigers in the first set before coming out on top in a back-and-forth second set.

"We came out with big energy and played really tough," said Fort Frye head coach Tiffany Smith.

"It’s really encouraging to come out and see what we’re able to put together -- how we’re able to put the ball away, some of the defensive, scrappy plays that we made."

Haven Shilling paced the Cadets with 14 kills, followed by Elle Casto with 10, Adeline Willey and Kali Shilling with eight apiece, Evalynn Wagner with seven and Ella Dowler with six. Addie Schob notched 24 assists while Aubrie Lang added 18. Fort Frye libero Jantzyn Huck finished with a match-high 50 digs and left both coaches impressed.

"Jantzyn was everywhere," Smith said. "Honestly, there’s no inch of the court that she can't cover. Jantzyn was a stud for us in the back row."

Kidder added, "Give it all to Fort Frye. They're well-coached. Their libero is special. The Huck girl -- she can play the game of volleyball. She's tough."

With his team facing a 2-0 deficit, Kidder made some rotational adjustments to get Wilkinson in the front row quicker.

"Somtimes you make those little changes, then you win a set, and it just gives them so much confidence," Kidder said.

"Rylee's a stud. She's something else."

Marietta dominated the third set to grab some confidence heading into the pivotal fourth set. The Tigers jumped ahead 4-0 and never trailed, even doubling up the Cadets 20-10 at one point. Fort Frye clawed back to get within five, 22-17, before Marietta closed it out to even up the match.

Bradford's block put Marietta up 4-2 in set No. 5, but the Cadets answered with three straight points, with Casto's kill putting them up 5-4. Marietta knotted it up at 5-5, 8-8, and 9-9 before Fort Frye took its final lead on Willey's kill. The Tigers tied it at 10-all before Wilkinson's block put them ahead by one, their first lead of the final set. It was 12-11 before MHS claimed the final three points, capped by Wilkinson's 36th kill, to escape with the victory.

"You lose the first two, do you know how hard it is to get the next three?" Kidder said. "You can do all the coaching, all the preaching, whatever you want, but it is extremely hard to win three in a row, especially against a team that just dominated you two times.

"Told the girls before we started this was going to be a test. This team's good, and their character is going to show. They'll punch you, and how you react to that is going to show what kind of character we have this season."

The Cadets dropped to 1-1 with a home match against rival Waterford slated for Monday. Though winning is always the desired outcome, Smith believes Thursday's match will be a learning experience from her team.

"After that (second set), I think we let our guards down just a little bit," she said. "The energy dropped, and we had a hard time piecing things back together. You hate to see it happen, but if it’s going to happen, I’d rather see it happen now, and we can carry it and run with it and make some adjustments and be better off in the long run.

"It’s hard to walk away from tonight, but still super high hopes for the future. The bar is high. Even tonight, walking away and going out in five games, we did some really, really good things. So high expectations for sure, and the girls are on the same page. They feel the same way. Everybody’s really excited about what we can do."

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.

At Dan Liedtke Court

Marietta d. Fort Frye 16-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-11

Marietta (3-0) stats: Clara Becker 2 aces, 20D; Laylah Bradford 18 ast, 11D; Addison Clark 1K, 1 ast, 4D; Addie Graham 36 ast, 14D; Adele McCombs 3 aces, 17K, 1B, 12D; Maevry McCombs 6K, 1B, 29D; Ava Prim 3 aces, 35D; Rylee Wilkinson 36K, 4B, 12D

Fort Frye (1-1) stats: Evalynn Wagner 3D, 1 ast, 7K, 1B; Jantzyn Huck 50D, 2 ast, 2 aces, 5 pts; Adeline Willey 8K, 2B, 2 aces, 7 pts; Addie Schob 7D, 24 ast; Kali Shilling 5D, 8K; Elle Casto 8D, 5 ast, 10K, 3B, 2 aces, 12 pts; Haven Shilling 25D, 14K, 3 aces, 7 pts; Hannah Weiker 20D, 2 ast, 2 pts; Aubrie Lang 13D, 18 ast, 1K, 1 ace, 1 pt; Ella Dowler 5D, 6K, 2B

Next match: Linsly at Marietta, 11 a.m. Saturday; Waterford at Fort Frye, 6:30 p.m. Monday

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