Patriots roll to victory

Serving has been a strength for the Patriots all season. That, combined with Kylie Osborne’s resurgence, was far too much for Woodlan to handle.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team chased the visiting Warriors all over the court with its service game, and Osborne turned in her second straight standout match Thursday in a 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 victory.
Osborne followed up her 17-kill effort Tuesday in a win over Bluffton with a team-high 18 against Woodlan. Ten of those coming in the second game, and she also led the squad with six digs.
“I feel like I focused more and just played the way I know I can play,” said Osborne of the second game. “I finally got it together kind of.
“I’m glad to finally be back after my shoulder,” she added, referencing a swollen rotator cuff that had plagued her earlier in the year. “I feel like I’m back past 100 percent.”
The first game of the evening was close early before Jay County (11-1, 2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) gradually pulled away. The same cannot be said for the second and third games.
The Patriots rolled out to an 11-0 lead in game two, with the first three points coming on kills from Osborne and Abby Barcus and an attack error by Woodlan’s Liz Sieger. The rest of the run was all aces and Osborne.
Bre McIntire recorded back-to-back aces off the arms of Bekah Dignal and Katie Hockemyer before an Osborne kill made it 6-0 and spurred Woodlan coach Brett Davis to take a timeout.
McIntire added another ace after the brief break.
“She played one of the oldest tricks in the book — long and short,” said Davis, whose team dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the ACAC. “She’d get us to move up and then she’d serve it over our heads. It’s the oldest trick in the book because it still works. We needed to do a little better job of adjusting.”
Osborne took over from there, putting down four consecutive kills before Woodlan finally scored by way of a service error. She then added another kill — her sixth in a stretch of eight points — to push the lead to 12-1.
JCHS coach Fred Medler credited Osborne for work she did with several teammates over the weekend, which resulted in improved mechanics.
“The balls that she’s been blasting out of bounds, she took a little off,” he said. “The balls that she’s been tipping, she sped them up a little bit. … She just killed everything at Monday night’s practice.
“Well, it carried over to Tuesday night, and then it carried over to tonight.”
The third game against Woodlan was more of the same, with the Patriots grabbing a 9-1 lead behind two aces and two kills from Osborne. They pushed the advantage to 13-4 on the way to the three-game win.
Osborne totaled 11 service points, including four aces, to trail only McIntire, who racked up 19 service points with four aces. Lizzy Schoenlein added three aces, and Ava Kunkler and Abby Wendel each had one.
“(Assistant coach Todd Gerber) gives me zones, and I just try to hit them as best I can,” said McIntire. “I definitely had them thinking about where I was trying to put the ball.”
Barcus followed Osborne with seven kills and four digs, and Wendel also had four digs. Schoenlein put up 31 assists.
Kory Gerig paced the Woodlan offense with five kills, and Paige Lichty had four assists. Dignal finished with four aces.

Junior varsity
The Patriots looked as if they were headed for a third game against Woodlan, but they closed the match with a 9-0 run to sweep the Warriors 25-19, 25-24.
Game two was tied at 11 before Woodlan pulled away and seemed to be in control. But Jay County rallied, with a Britlyn Dues tip closing the gap to 24-23 and forcing a Warrior timeout.
It did nothing to slow the Patriots down, as Audrey Shreve smacked back-to-back aces to finish off the comeback.
Shreve finished with eight points, including three aces, and three digs, and Alli Campbell had 12 assists and three digs. Kaelyn Weaver recorded seven kills, Emilie Walter had eight points and Kady Finnerty finished with four aces and three digs.