May 19, 2017 at 1:47 a.m.
Jay earns spot in final
Patriots, Falcons will meet yet again
Jay earns spot in final
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
A little overconfidence may have led to the Patriots’ slow start.
That problem didn’t last long.
After falling behind 2-1 in a couple of matches, the host Jay County High School girls tennis team reclaimed control and earned a 5-0 victory over Union City Indians in Thursday’s blustery sectional semifinal.
The Patriots advance to Friday’s 5 p.m. final against Winchester, which cruised past Randolph Southern 5-0 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
“They’re going to be a handful,” said JCHS coach Dave Cramer of the defending sectional champions. “They’re pretty good.”
The Patriots lost to Winchester 5-0 during the regular season.
Friday will mark the fourth consecutive meeting between the two squads in the sectional championship match. The Golden Falcons won 4-1 to earn their first title last year after JCHS had claimed the crown by 3-2 scores in 2014 and ’15.
Cramer said his team will need to approach the title match with some confidence, an assessment with which junior No. 1 singles player Shelby McClain concurred.
“I think we just have to go in with the right mindset,” she said. “We can’t go in and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose,’ just because we lost to them before. We just have to say we’re going to try our best.”
Union City brought that attitude against the Patriots in Thursday’s semifinal, looking as if it might have a chance to make things interesting after losing the regular-season meeting between the two teams in a shutout. The Indians took 2-1 leads in the opening set at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.
But JCHS didn’t allow the hopes of an upset linger.
McClain responded by winning four games in a row to take command of the opening set. After giving one up as her lead slipped to 5-3, she bounced back to serve out the set at love.
That momentum carried to the second set, with McClain taking the four games in a row to finish a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Her final point came as she ripped her return of a Katie Rismiller serve to the left side of the court for a winner.
The junior took advantage of the strength of her serve, often using it to handcuff Rismiller.
“I think that’s something that I kind of rely on in a match,” said McClain. “If I can get a strong serve, I know they won’t get to it and I can get the point.”
The No. 1 doubles duo of cousins Kayla and Audrey Dirksen took a little longer than McClain to take control of their match.
They gave up the first game against Alison Conklin and Emily Cline and then traded back-and-forth to a 4-3 deficit. But wins in the next three games turned the tide, and they went on to win the final four games of the second set for their 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Megan Johnson never trailed in either set against Union City’s Breann Ward at the No. 2 spot and was in complete control in her final game of the evening. She took a 30-love lead and used an ace to earn match point before Ward sent a shot sailing long to give Johnson the 6-3, 6-2 win.
The Patriots No. 2 doubles team of Emily Reier and Betsy Muhlenkamp ended up in a dogfight with Sydney Ralston and Audrey Sullenbarger of Union City after taking a 4-1 lead. Ralson and Sullenbarger closed back to within a single game at 4-3 and 5-4 before an unforced error gave the JCHS the set.
Reier and Muhlenkamp then fell behind 2-1 in the second set before reclaiming the lead again. Reier eventually slammed a volley winner down the middle to complete a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Francine Muhlenkamp obliterated Union City sophomore Emallee Bocanegra in the opening set, cruising to a 6-0 win and looking as if she might finish off the match in about 15 minutes total. The pace slowed in the second set, but Muhlenkamp still never trailed as she fought off the challenge 6-0, 6-3.
All Rights Reserved
A little overconfidence may have led to the Patriots’ slow start.
That problem didn’t last long.
After falling behind 2-1 in a couple of matches, the host Jay County High School girls tennis team reclaimed control and earned a 5-0 victory over Union City Indians in Thursday’s blustery sectional semifinal.
The Patriots advance to Friday’s 5 p.m. final against Winchester, which cruised past Randolph Southern 5-0 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
“They’re going to be a handful,” said JCHS coach Dave Cramer of the defending sectional champions. “They’re pretty good.”
The Patriots lost to Winchester 5-0 during the regular season.
Friday will mark the fourth consecutive meeting between the two squads in the sectional championship match. The Golden Falcons won 4-1 to earn their first title last year after JCHS had claimed the crown by 3-2 scores in 2014 and ’15.
Cramer said his team will need to approach the title match with some confidence, an assessment with which junior No. 1 singles player Shelby McClain concurred.
“I think we just have to go in with the right mindset,” she said. “We can’t go in and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose,’ just because we lost to them before. We just have to say we’re going to try our best.”
Union City brought that attitude against the Patriots in Thursday’s semifinal, looking as if it might have a chance to make things interesting after losing the regular-season meeting between the two teams in a shutout. The Indians took 2-1 leads in the opening set at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.
But JCHS didn’t allow the hopes of an upset linger.
McClain responded by winning four games in a row to take command of the opening set. After giving one up as her lead slipped to 5-3, she bounced back to serve out the set at love.
That momentum carried to the second set, with McClain taking the four games in a row to finish a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Her final point came as she ripped her return of a Katie Rismiller serve to the left side of the court for a winner.
The junior took advantage of the strength of her serve, often using it to handcuff Rismiller.
“I think that’s something that I kind of rely on in a match,” said McClain. “If I can get a strong serve, I know they won’t get to it and I can get the point.”
The No. 1 doubles duo of cousins Kayla and Audrey Dirksen took a little longer than McClain to take control of their match.
They gave up the first game against Alison Conklin and Emily Cline and then traded back-and-forth to a 4-3 deficit. But wins in the next three games turned the tide, and they went on to win the final four games of the second set for their 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Megan Johnson never trailed in either set against Union City’s Breann Ward at the No. 2 spot and was in complete control in her final game of the evening. She took a 30-love lead and used an ace to earn match point before Ward sent a shot sailing long to give Johnson the 6-3, 6-2 win.
The Patriots No. 2 doubles team of Emily Reier and Betsy Muhlenkamp ended up in a dogfight with Sydney Ralston and Audrey Sullenbarger of Union City after taking a 4-1 lead. Ralson and Sullenbarger closed back to within a single game at 4-3 and 5-4 before an unforced error gave the JCHS the set.
Reier and Muhlenkamp then fell behind 2-1 in the second set before reclaiming the lead again. Reier eventually slammed a volley winner down the middle to complete a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Francine Muhlenkamp obliterated Union City sophomore Emallee Bocanegra in the opening set, cruising to a 6-0 win and looking as if she might finish off the match in about 15 minutes total. The pace slowed in the second set, but Muhlenkamp still never trailed as she fought off the challenge 6-0, 6-3.
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