Indians Cruise To Straight-Set Win Over Wilson

FISHERSVILLE – Fort Defiance made the trip to Wilson on Monday for what many believed would be the final big test of the regular season for the undefeated Indians.

Fort aced the exam with a straight set 25-13, 25- 12, 25-25-19 victory.

“The first set I think we had one service error and two hitting errors. I told the girls after that first set they were playing really, really clean ball. The first set, that set the tone,” said Fort coach Amber Pitsenbarger. 

Fort took a 5-1 lead with four kills, two by Maecy Frizzelle and one each by Livia Clinedinst and Alexis Miller.

The teams traded points with the Hornets staying with striking distance, trailing by five 14-9.

A kill by Estee Irving had the Hornets within 16-10 before Fort pulled away with five straight points. Frizzelle served an ace and teammates Autumn Weber and Caroline Hanger delivered kills for a 21-10 Indians lead.

Fort closed out the first set with a combined block by Livia Clinedinst and Miller and two service aces by Madison Bragg to win 25-13.

Wilson never got on track in the second set.

After an ace by Natalee Chandler gave Wilson a 1-0 lead, Frizzelle tied the score with a kill. Hanger then served 10 straight points for an 11-1 Fort lead. Hanger served two aces and Miller added two kills during the early run. 

Wilson closed to within 13-7 before Fort scored eight of the next nine points to pull away. Frizzelle, Clinedinst, Weber and Savannah Crookshanks each had a kill as Fort took a 21-8 led and cruised to a 2-0 advantage.

Wilson trailed 4-3 in the third set before surging ahead 8-5 as Irving scored with two kills and AJ Hedrick added a block.

Fort scored five straight points, two on kills by Hanger to grab a 10-9 lead. 

An ace by Norah Anderson plus a kill by Frizzelle increased the margin t0 15-11, but Wilson fought back to trim the deficit to one, 18-17.

The lead was 21-18 when Hanger and Miller scored on kills to help push the margin to 24-18. After a Fort hitting error, Clinedinst put the final point away to complete the sweep, 25-19.

Frizzelle led the Indians with 12 kills, followed by Hanger with eight, Miller with six, Clinedinst with five and Crookshanks with four. Miller dished out 25 assists and Bragg served three of Fort’s nine aces. 

“Alexis had six kills as the setter and she had one stretch where I thought she was going to get all the kills,” said Pitsenbarger. “She does that a lot in practice. She’s doing it in games now with a lot of confidence.”

The Indians finished with 50 digs, led by Frizzelle with 13. Hanger and Weber had 10 digs each and Anderson finished with nine. 

“I thought our defense was really good tonight,” said Pitsenbarger. “We were touching a lot of ball with our blocks which helps our defense, and we get pretty much everything up.”

Bree Kindig had 15 digs for the Hornets. Irving finished with eight kills and Hedrick added four.