No. 9 Jets defeat JCHS

Twice in their first week of matches the Patriots have played state-ranked foes.
The first time — Thursday against Class 3A No. 3 Delta — coach Fred Medler was pleased with his team’s effort despite a three-game loss. On Tuesday, he felt the intensity just wasn’t there.
Jay County gave Class 2A No. 9 Adams Central a first-game fight but didn’t do much to slow down the visiting Flying Jets in the next two in a 25-20, 25-12, 25-16 defeat.
“I’m frustrated a little bit in the fact that our intensity kind of dipped for a long time in this match, because you can’t ever quit playing hard. And we did,” said Medler, whose volleyball team had won four matches in a row since losing the season opener to Delta. “We started questioning our ability and what we could do with the ball. That we can’t have happen this year.
“If we’re going to reach what we want to do and be as good as we want to become and as good as we should be, we can’t let that happen to us.”
The Patriots (4-2) fought back to tie the opening game at 19 before Adams Central (4-1) went on a 6-1 run to win it. From there, the Flying Jets were in control.
Adams Central built a 6-2 lead in the second game and then used a 12-2 run to put it out of reach. It ran off seven straight points to open the third.
Flying Jets coach Ashley Beard was happy with the way her team played in the second and third games, but would like to see the early-match jitters eliminated.
“We need to focus on coming out of the gate strong,” said Beard, whose team’s only loss came against Class 3A No. 4 Bellmont. “The last couple of matches we’ve had we’ve really lacked that intensity in the first game. That’s one thing that we have to focus on.
“In the second and third games, we started out strong and kept pushing through.
“I think we made smarter shots. We took care of the ball a little bit more. Serve-receive pass is our biggest thing; we didn’t have the greatest passes in the first game. Overall our play was just a lot better.”
Jay County had trouble against the Flying Jets’ trio of 5-foot-10-inch blockers.
Sophomore Jenni Baumer led the group with nine blocks, and juniors Whitney Peterson and Haley Gross each added six.
Peterson had three in a row to close out the second game.
The Patriots also had trouble getting a block up in front of the Adams Central front-line.
“We’re reading where the hitter is at. We’re not reading the angle of the hitter,” said Medler. “We’re just standing at the net and jumping. … We’re not closing blocks. Balls are coming an inch above the net and we’re not getting our hand on it.”
In addition to her six blocks, Peterson paced the Flying Jets with eight kills. Abby Snyder and Madi Schwartz added five kills and two aces apiece.
Schwartz also put up 21 assists, and Snyder had a match-high 12 digs.
Kylie Osborne had 10 digs and six kills for the Patriots, who were at their best midway through the first game.
Opening their run with an Ava Kunkler kill and then getting some strong serves from Abby Wendel, JCHS fought back from a five-point deficit.
It eventually pulled even at 19 thanks to back-to-back kills from Bre McIntire and Emily Westgerdes before Adams Central reclaimed the lead and pulled away.
“I’m really not sure there was any one thing accept that we were playing volleyball the way that we should play volleyball,” said Medler of the comeback. “We were doing what I expect us to do … This team has got to play together as a group.”
McIntire posted a team-high seven kills, and Lizzy Schoenlein matched Schwartz with 21 assists.

Junior varsity
Jay County played two tight games against the Flying Jets, but slipped to 3-3 on the season with a 25-22, 25-24 loss.
The Patriots rallied to take the lead in the second game, pulling ahead 24-23 on Adams Central attack error to leave them one point away from forcing a third.
­But a JCHS attack error tied the game, and Anna Isch came through with a kill to seal the match for the Flying Jets.
Britlyn Dues paced Jay County with seven service points and also had three digs. Audrey Shreve finished with six kills, Jessica Kerrigan put up nine assists and Gabby Hart had three digs.


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