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Joined for a cause: Fort Frye volleyball sweeps Waterford in three sets

By Kerry Patrick 5 min read

BEVERLY - Rivalry aside, the volleyball teams from Waterford and Fort Frye met on the volleyball court with heavy hearts.

Six weeks ago, the two schools were affected when three girls were involved in an ATV accident - including Fort Frye freshman-to-be Brooklynne Meek, who remains hospitalized at Nationwide Chidlren's Hospital in Columbus

Special T-shirts signifying Meek's No. 21 were designed and worn in place of school jerseys. Money was raised for the "Fund for Brooklynne." Meek is currently undergoing multiple surgeries for her serious injuries and faces a long road to recovery.

According to Missy Huck, who is the lead on the fundraising effort, stated both communities have stepped up in a major way to assist the Meek family on Brooklynne's healing. A donation fund has been stabslished to ease the financial burden of medical expenses, travel, recovery needs and other unforeseen costs.

Monday's volleyball match is in no way, shape or form is a one-time effort. Another opportunity is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11 when the same two schools square off on the football field at Fort Frye High School.

"The other two girls are doing great and Brooklynne is doing great - she just has a longer road to go," Huck said. "Tonight was an all together effort. The community has done so many things. I wouldn't even be able to name them all."

As for how the volleyball match played out, Fort Frye made a major bounceback from a five-set defeat to Marietta and swept Waterford in three sets, 25-17, 25-22, 25-15. The Cadets, who took the first two sets from Marietta, improved to 2-1.

"I was really happy to see the girls let that last week's match pivot them in the correct way," Fort Frye coach Tiffany Smith said. "Instead of letting our guard down or giving a little less energy, the girls were really locked in. I was glad to see the 'just want to' attitude adjusted."

Waterford, which did not establish a lead against Fort Frye until the first point of the third set, drops to 1-3.

"We did start to come back a little bit towards the end of the set - it's just we dug ourselves too much to be able to come back," Waterford coach Laura Antill said.

Fort Frye built sizable leads in the first two sets. In the first set, Hannah Weiker served five straight points to push the Cadets' lead to 17-7. The gap ballooned to 12 at 22-10 before a Waterford surge commenced.

A double block by the combination of Brooklyn Cooper and Kaylee Martin cut the gap to 22-12. Another three-point roll, capped by Martin, kept the Wildcats within shouting distance at 23-16.

However, a service error created a first set point which Fort Frye capitalized on.

Deja vu struck in the second set as Fort Frye built an 11-3 advantage. With the contribution of two service aces from Haven Shilling, Waterford fell behind 16-6.

Slowly but surely, Waterford chipped away and closed to within 22-16. At 22-17, four straight hitting errors from Fort Frye resulted in a one-point Cadet lead at 22-21.

Following a second timeout, Fort Frye regrouped. Addie Schob assisted on a dink for a winner from Kali Shilling. Jantzyn Huck added an ace serve to establish a 24-21 advantage.

Waterford fought off one set point before Kali Shilling answered with a ferocious spike attempt into the block attempt from Wildcats' Brystal Meek. The ball returned to the Fort Frye side of the net but out of bounds untouched.

The serve from Elle Casto gave Fort Frye a major boost in set three. Casto recorded three aces as the Cadets built an 11-6 lead. Several minutes later, a dink for a winner by Adeline Willey capped a five-point run. Waterford now faced a 17-8 deficit.

From that juncture, both sides basically traded points as Fort Frye never allowed the margin to get closer than eight points.

"Before the match, we were immedliately like 'Hey, we are playing this for our girl.' We want to win this for (Brooklynne)," said Fort Frye senior Aubrie Lang. "That was definitely our drive for the night. Every day before a game, we pray for her."

The postgame on Monday definitely had a different vibe than the Marietta loss.

"We definitely came back stronger than ever," Lang said. "In practice, we had a talk and we mainly focused on making sure we forget our mistakes, lock in and just focus on the next point."

Individuals wanting to donate to the Fund for Brooklynne can visit any Citizens Bank office with locations in Beverly, Marietta, Barlow and Belpre.

"We created a bank account, a checking account under the name of 'Fund for Brooklynne' so it's easy to remember," Huck said. "They can simply stop at any Citizens Bank and donate."

At Fort Frye High School

Fort Frye def. Waterford 25-17, 25-22, 25-15

Fort Frye Stats: Evalynn Wagner 3 digs, 2 kills, 1 block; Jantzyn Huck 35 digs, 1 assisty, 2 kills, 1 ace; Adeline Willey 6 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace, 2 points; Addie Schob 15 assists; Kali Shilling 11 kills, 1 block; Elle Casto 5 assists, 7 kills, 1 block, 4 aces, 14 points; Haven Shilling, 1 assist, 11 kills, 2 aces, 3 points; Hannah Weiker 17 digs, 7 points; Aubrie Lang 18 assists, 3 points; Ella Dowler 3 kills, 4 blocks, 8 points

Records: Fort Frye 2-1, Waterford 1-3

Next match: Southern at Waterford, 7 p.m. Tuesday; Fort Frye at Caldwell, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

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