JC fights off 'Dogs

FORT WAYNE — The Patriots struggled to pass the ball in the second game. But they didn’t allow those issues to ruin their night.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team bounced back to grab a 9-3 lead in the third game and then finished off the New Haven Bulldogs 25-16, 14-25, 25-19, 25-20 in the opening round of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament at Fort Wayne South Side.
“We still made mistakes and got a little timid at times, but were able to keep battling and keep fighting,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler. “After game one I was really comfortable. After game two I wasn’t so comfortable.
“The good part is we were able to regroup and battle in game three … and then kind of took command.”
The victory sends the Patriots to the semifinal round, where they will take on Huntington North (19-13) at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Vikings came back Thursday for a 20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 17-15 win over Homestead in their opening-round match.
The host Archers and Wayne will play in the other semifinal at 12:30 p.m., and the championship will follow at 6 p.m.
Jay County (11-22) broke away in the opening game when Bre McIntire ran off eight straight service points. But they fell behind early and trailed throughout the second, giving up four aces and struggling in serve reception throughout.
In the third game, however, McIntire put together a four-point service run capped by an ace off the arms of libero Britni Bolinger and the Patriots never trailed.
Freshman Abby Wendel came up with two aces to help JCHS extend its lead in the fourth game, and it finished off the match on a New Haven attack error.
“We served 76 percent against New Haven at Heritage,” said Medler of his team’s 25-20, 20-25, 27-25 loss to the Bulldogs during the regular season at the Heritage Invitational. “We just took ourselves off the court with our serve. …
“I thought they were better than they were at Heritage, but I think we were better tonight definitely than we were at Heritage, especially in our serving part of the game.”
Jay County served at nearly 90 percent in its sectional opener with McIntire recording 16 points and three aces. Hannah Ainsworth added 10 points and four aces, and Ali Inman and Wendel had two aces apiece.
New Haven coach Cassandra Steinbrunner, whose team finished at 9-20, said her team struggled against the Patriots’ service game.
“We’ve kind of been a roller coaster team all season, been up and down,” she said. “We have the potential to play fantastic when we’re entirely intense the whole game. But when we start to get a little bit down … we just kind of shut down and we haven’t been able to figure out how to get over that hump yet.”
A pair of freshmen led the Patriot offense with Kylie Osborne recording 10 kills and Ava Kunkler adding eight. McIntire finished with seven kills and shared the team high of 23 digs with Rachel Ferguson. Malarie Houck put up 15 assists.
“There was a time or two where Ava gave us a couple really big kills in a stretch,” said Medler. “Kylie gave us a couple big kills in a stretch. When we weren’t swinging hard, Katie Aker came back in and swung pretty hard at the ball. … Everybody contributed.”


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