Tourney champs

The Patriots had not won back-to-back matches all season. So three in a row on their home court made for an enjoyable Saturday.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team breezed through the field as it hosted the Patriot Invitational, giving up no more than 12 points in any game as it won the tournament.
JCHS opened the day with a 25-13, 25-12 win over Frankton, defeated Muncie Southside 25-12, 25-11 and then rolled over Union City 25-11, 25-12 to clinch the title.
“I’m real pleased that we were able to put three solid matches together,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team is now 7-18. “We made some errors, but they didn’t lead into a bunch of errors, a string of errors. They played a really, really good day of volleyball …
“As a group, they played, they moved. We watched them transitioning. They were doing what they should do. We got blocked a few times and we were there popping it up to cover. So it’s coming together.”
Jay County fell behind 5-2 in its final match of the day, but it didn’t take the home team long to erase the deficit.
Bre McIntire came up with a kill to halt a 4-0 Union City run, and then stepped behind the service line for an ace. Back-to-back kills from Ava Kunkler and Malarie Houck gave the Patriots the lead, and McIntire extended the advantage to 9-5 on another ace.
Houck tallied five straight service points, and JCHS closed the opening game on a 23-6 run.
The Patriots trailed early in the second game as well, but consecutive Kunkler kills gave them the lead for good. Rachel Ferguson and Houck each had two aces in the second game, and Katie Aker recorded four kills in a span of nine points as Jay County took control.
Medler said his team focused on using the invitational as a new start to its season.
“Starting Monday, we just said, ‘Throw the rest of the year out. We’re 0-0 right now. We have 10 matches left. Let’s go see how many of these 10 matches we can get,’” he said. “Because I really think we can get a lot of them if we just decide to play and gain some confidence.”
Houck led the Patriots with 23 service points, 19 digs and five aces on the day. Ferguson added 21 points, 13 digs and four aces.
Aker had a team-high 17 kills, including eight against Muncie Southside.
Kylie Osborne and McIntire followed with 15 kills apiece, and Hannah Ainsworth had 43 assists.
“She hit well, pretty much all day long,” said Medler of Aker. “(Earlier in the season) she was trying to hit everything hard. And it was either going long or in the net. She just lost her confidence. …
“(Today) she was hitting what the set made available. She wasn’t trying to over-swing on a ball that wasn’t hittable hard. She did mix in some hard shots, but even her hard shots were placed shots. She hit well today. She hit smart today.”

Junior varsity
Jay County got a strong team effort as it defeated Frankton 25-7, 25-9, Muncie Southside 19-25, 25-13, 15-4 and Union City 25-12, 25-22 to win the Patriot Invitational.
Mallory Marshall totaled 17 kills and 12 digs for the Patriots, and Michelle Wellman had 15 kills and 12 digs. Courtney Finnerty finished with 28 assists and eight aces, and Jessica Kerrigan notched 24 service points and 15 aces.
Faith Parr scored 20 service points, and Lucy Hemmelgarn had 10 kills.
Middle school
The East Jay Middle School eighth grade volleyball team went 4-0 Saturday to win the East Jay Invitational.
South Adams finished third in the eighth grade tournament and second in the seventh grade, both with 3-1 records.
Lizzy Schoenlein powered the Chief eighth graders, who beat Bluffton 25-15, 25-12, Southern Wells 25-11, 25-4, Westside (Union City) 25-9, 25-23 and Adams Central 25-18, 25-17 to win the tournament. She had 56 service points, 26 of which came on aces, 36 assists and 14 digs.
Gracie Runkle added 18 service points and 10 aces, Abby Barcus totaled 17 kills and eight blocks and Britlyn Dues had 15 kills and seven digs.
The SAMS eighth graders defeated West Jay, Richmond and Westside, but lost to Adams Central. The Starfire seventh grade team topped East Jay, Southern Wells and Westside before falling to Adams Central in the championship match.[[In-content Ad]]