Patriots fall in tiebreaker

After falling behind in their season opener, Shawna Miller and Sydney Bost bounced back. They evened their match at a set apiece, and were in a super tiebreaker with a chance to give themselves, and the Patriots, the win.
But they fell into a hole again and couldn’t come up with another rally.
The Jay County High School No. 1 doubles dropped the first three points of the super tiebreaker and later gave up five in a row. It lost 6-3, 5-7 (10-3) as the Patriots came up short 3-2 against the Blackford Bruins.
“I’m sad for the girls,” said JCHS coach Susan Garringer. “I was hoping to get this and actually knew it was well within our reach. Obviously for them it would have been such a great thing to win their first match.
“But they’re not discouraged.”
With Jay County (0-1) earning wins at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles while the Bruins (1-0) nabbed the No. 1 and 2 singles matches, the team decision was left up to the pairs playing No. 1 doubles.
Bost and Miller trailed 3-0 in the second set after dropping the first, but came roaring back to win the next four games in a row.
They went back and fourth with Cate Anderson and Hannah Lex of Blackford before rallying again, this time from down 30-love in the 12th game, to take the second set.
The coaches elected to play a super tiebreaker to decide the match rather than a full third set, but the stoppage of play was enough to break the Patriots’ momentum.
“I didn’t want to see a break at all,” said Garringer. “That hurt us I think. If there was no break, I think our momentum would have taken us through that tiebreaker, I really do.”
The Bruins scored the first three points of the super tiebreaker before committing an error to allow JCHS on the board. The Patriots closed to within 4-2, but then struggled to keep the ball in play as Blackford ran off five straight points and then finished the match on an overhead slam.
“You see a lot of times if you get the first two or three points its tough to come back,” said Blackford coach Brian Smith.
Jay County’s two singles losses both came in straight sets against the Bruins, who are hoping for just their second winning season in school history. Jessica Kerrigan, who played just three times at the varsity level last season, fell 6-4, 6-2 to veteran Rachel Baker at No. 1, and Morgan Kaufman suffered a 6-4, 6-0 loss to Lizzie Mattson at No. 2.
“They’ve got a lot of experience too,” said Smith. “They were one and two singles last year. They just keep getting better. They made a lot of good shots. Both of them move the ball around a lot better than they did last year.”
Kyra Braun was the top performer of the evening for JCHS, despite playing in the first varsity match of her career.
Stepping into the starting lineup, Braun was in control from the start. She breezed through the first three games, built a 5-0 lead and then smacked back-to-back volley winners to finish off the first set.
She never let her play slip, dominating the second set as well for a shutout win over Hayley Apple.
“Obviously I was very happy with three singles, Kyra Braun,” said Garringer. “She’s a player who’s fairly aggressive. And she’s consistent. She’s a fighter. She’s going to have a good season, I can tell.”
No. 2 doubles players Emily Westgerdes and Faith Parr picked up the other victory of the evening for Jay County after fighting off Kasandra Loper and Rachel Shade in the opening set. They won the first five games of the second set before double faults tripped them up, but bounced right back to break Shade’s serve for 7-5, 6-1 victory.
“They always seem to finish strong, so that’s something we can work with,” said Garringer. “They hit the alleys. They played well at the net together.
“We’ve been working a lot with them playing two up … They’re gaining a lot of knowledge there and confidence to play that way. … They utilized that tonight against these guys.”
The junior varsity Patriots defeated Blackford 5-0.[[In-content Ad]]