Jay wins in 3

Serving set the tone for the Patriots Tuesday night.
Early on, the Jay County High School volleyball team struggled, falling behind by four points to the Frankton Eagles. But aces from Hannah Ainsworth and Alyssa Rigby helped turn the opening game around and the Patriots rolled to a 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 victory.
“In our losing streaks that’s kind of the way we’ve served,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler of the serving early on against Frankton. “We just get out there and for whatever reason we miss too many first-ball serves. We’re a better serving team than that. …
“I was glad to see that later in that first game we started serving better, and then for the most part the serving was tough (for the rest of the match.”
Jay County (9-12) missed three first serves out of their opening nine, falling behind 16-12. But they got control of the ball and Ainsworth recorded an ace on her first serve as part of a 4-0 run to tie the match.
The Eagles (3-9) reclaimed a three-point lead, but after a Maria Murphy kill Rigby recorded a pair of aces to key a 5-0 run.JCHS scored nine of the final 10 points in the game to pull away for the victory.
“Tonight was definitely one of those nights where we just did not come out 100 percent,” said Frankton coach Jerry Banda. “We’re not a tall team, but when we are aggressive and consistent with our serving, when we are aggressive and consistent with our passing we can take other teams out of the match … We were a half-step too slow, unfortunately, tonight. We just did not take advantage of opportunities.
“Jay County, according to our numbers, 17 points in the first game were off our errors.”
Sierra Weatherhead got the Patriots off to a good start with back-to-back aces early in the second game. Randa Gillespie and Ainsworth each added aces later in the game as the Patriots never trailed.
Weatherhead again had back-to-back aces in game three to kick off a 12-1 run that put Jay County in control for good.
“Sierra Weatherhead served tough,” said Medler of the senior, who finished with seven points to go along with 11 from Hornaday and eight by Tanner Martin. “After missing her first serve, she just stepped back there and took control of the serving part of the game. And then our confidence just came out.
“She moves it around. She’s never serving at the same spot on the court twice in a row. She goes back there and hits it like she’s spiking.”
Hornaday, the Patriots’ leading on the season with 150 kills and 39 blocks, keyed the team late in each game.
She recorded the final kill of the first game before a Frankton error ended it, and then blocked the Eagles’ Alexa Munger to end the second. And she ended the match with a tip that found the floor in the middle of all six Frankton players.
“We worked a lot on tipping, making a big, hard approach and selling it and then tipping, not always hitting that … hard shot,” said Medler. “You’ve got to mix it up.
“She had hit hard three or four in a row right before that and then all of a sudden (on the last point) decided, ‘Oh, I’ll tip this one.” It just makes the defense look at something else.”
Hornaday finished with 11 kills and three blocks, and Murphy added eight kills. Martin finished with 14 assists, Megan May totaled eight digs and Rigby notched seven digs.

Junior varsity
The Patriots slipped to 1-9 with a 25-16, 25-14 loss to Frankton.
Katie Aker led the Patriots with 10 points, including six aces, and two digs. Shannon Springer added two points and two kills, and Audrey Avey had three digs.[[In-content Ad]]