Patriots pummel South

A year ago, the Patriots celebrated their first win of the season when they defeated Fort Wayne South Side.
On Tuesday, the victory represented a fourth straight victory and extended Jay County’s impressive start to 7-3.
The result was never in doubt against the visiting Archers as JCHS rolled to a 25-15, 25-14, 25-19 victory.
“We have a lot of good things going on,” said Patriot coach Fred Medler, whose team hosts Class 2A No. 5 Wapahani Thursday. “This is one of those matches where things from the other side coming back at us weren’t exactly what we were expecting. They kind of had us out of position a little bit, but we responded positively.”
After cruising through the first game, Jay County took control of the second with 5-0 runs behind the serving of Sierra Weatherhead and Hannah Ainsworth. Mariah Hornaday had a pair of kills to help Weatherhead, and Ainsworth notched an ace as she pushed the Patriots’ lead to 14-7.
Jay County was in control the rest of the way, pushing to a 23-11 lead on the way to winning the game 25-14.In game three the Patriots cruised to an 11-5 lead and Medler mixed up his lineup to get several players their first varsity experience. JCHS never relinquished the lead, and finished the match on back-to-back South Side miscues.
Medler said he was happy with the way his team communicated, all helping each other get into the right positions on the court.
“And it’s not just seniors that are doing that,” he added. “It’s coming from every single one of them.
“We have great team chemistry. They are having fun. It helps when you win a few. That just makes it a whole lot easier on anybody, and then it just kind of builds on itself.”
The Patriots, who opened 0-9 last year, dropped their first two matches of 2010, but have won seven of their last eight. That stretch includes Saturday’s championship at the Heritage Invitational. And two of their three losses have come against state-ranked competition — Delta and Adams Central.
“We went up on Saturday and played three teams that I still think were better than us when you watched them,” said Medler of the competition at Heritage. “But ... we were the better volleyball team during that match. And it was because of playing together, figuring out what they were doing, where they were hitting the ball. And we covered it and made them make the mistakes.”
Hornaday led Jay County to the win over South Side with 14 kills, and Weatherhead added 10 digs and seven points. Tanner Martin put up 16 assists, Ainsworth totaled 11 points, and Alyssa Rigby had 10 digs.

Junior varisty
The Patriots picked up their second win of the season, knocking off South Side 25-23, 25-20.
Bailey Weatherhead finished with seven points and one dig in the victory for JCHS (2-4), and Shannon Springer had four points and a pair of assists. Abbi Dunlavy and Ashley Motter each totaled four points and a dig, and Jade Secor notched three kills.[[In-content Ad]]