October 11, 2017 at 2:59 a.m.
Jay on to the semifinal
Jay on to the semifinal
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
If the Patriots have any hopes of making a deeper tournament run in a loaded sectional they’ll have to clean up mistakes.
And a lot of them.
The Jay County High School volleyball team wasn’t at its best Tuesday but won nonetheless with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-9 victory over the Blackford Bruins in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament at Delta.
“Just not mentally playing very well for whatever reason,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team won a sectional tournament match for the first time since the 2013 season. “We’re not strong out there. I don’t know what we’re going to do to clean it up.”
Jay County (19-12) meets the host Delta Eagles, who are ranked second in the state in the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association Z-ratings, in the sectional semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday. The sectional final is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Other opening round matches, to be played Thursday, pit Hamilton Heights against fourth-ranked Wapahani — the Raiders have won a state title each of the last two years in Class 2A and Class 3A respectively — while top-ranked New Castle meets No. 10 Muncie Burris.
But the Patriots will have their work cut out for them if they play the way they did against the Bruins.
“We messed with the lineup a little bit tonight,” Medler said. “We were out of spots but that doesn’t mean you don’t play hard and don’t play smart.”
Jay County, which swept the Bruins on Sept. 18, had nine service errors and five setting errors, which accounted for 35 percent of the Bruins’ points on the night.
“They were trying to play tonight without even thinking,” Medler said. “That is the part we have to clean up. If not, Delta will make short work of us. We want to be competitive.”
Olivia Kunkler, a junior, led the team with 10 kills, half of those came in the second set. Kunkler’s first kill of the second set sparked a quick three-point run that helped Jay County erase a 3-1 deficit.
Her second and third came on consecutive points in a 5-0 run during which her freshman sister Alana also had a kill.
The point by the younger Kunkler — she finished with three kills and a block — gave the Patriots a 13-7 advantage, and, after a JCHS setting error, Olivia Kunkler slammed a kill down the left side of the court.
Later, after Blackford (1-20) had scored consecutive points, Kunkler notched her fifth and final kill of the set to make it 18-12. Blackford never got as close as six points the rest of the set.
“Olivia hit the ball fairly well tonight,” Medler said. Kunkler also had an ace. “It was a good night for Olivia. When she did stay back (away from the net) she was hitting better shots, more powerful shots and placed shots.”
Kaelyn Weaver was second on the team with nine kills, and shared the team-high of two blocks with freshman Natalie Miles.
Two aces in the third set helped the Patriots jump out to a 5-1 lead, forcing Blackford coach Mark Rodgers into taking his first timeout. Out of the break, Kailee Denney immediately recorded another ace, then notched one more as the Patriots totaled 10 straight points.
A 5-0 run later in the set made it 17-4 before Blackford was able to take five of the next six points. A Bruin ace, combined with a JCHS service error, a Blackford block and an attack error by the Patriots forced Medler into taking a timeout.
It was then he told his team they were again not mentally in the match.
“Just tried to get them refocused and to play hard and to finish it out,” he said.
Miles ripped a kill off of Blackford’s Heather Harty out of the break, and then junior Randi Ferguson went back to the service line and helped the Patriots close out the match on a 7-0 run that included back-to-back Olivia Kunkler kills.
“Randi is very good at just putting the ball in play as a server,” Medler said. “She went back and ran several points for us.”
Even if they eliminate the mistakes, Medler knows he has a tough task in preparing the Patriots for the Eagles, who won in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-12) when the teams met Aug. 17 at JCHS.
“We have to do the things we can to deny them the things they’re strong at,” he said. “They’ll be big at the net. They’ll block well. They’ll stuff our hits. They’ll come hard and swing hard at the ball so our block has to be ready.
All Rights Reserved
If the Patriots have any hopes of making a deeper tournament run in a loaded sectional they’ll have to clean up mistakes.
And a lot of them.
The Jay County High School volleyball team wasn’t at its best Tuesday but won nonetheless with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-9 victory over the Blackford Bruins in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament at Delta.
“Just not mentally playing very well for whatever reason,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team won a sectional tournament match for the first time since the 2013 season. “We’re not strong out there. I don’t know what we’re going to do to clean it up.”
Jay County (19-12) meets the host Delta Eagles, who are ranked second in the state in the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association Z-ratings, in the sectional semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday. The sectional final is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Other opening round matches, to be played Thursday, pit Hamilton Heights against fourth-ranked Wapahani — the Raiders have won a state title each of the last two years in Class 2A and Class 3A respectively — while top-ranked New Castle meets No. 10 Muncie Burris.
But the Patriots will have their work cut out for them if they play the way they did against the Bruins.
“We messed with the lineup a little bit tonight,” Medler said. “We were out of spots but that doesn’t mean you don’t play hard and don’t play smart.”
Jay County, which swept the Bruins on Sept. 18, had nine service errors and five setting errors, which accounted for 35 percent of the Bruins’ points on the night.
“They were trying to play tonight without even thinking,” Medler said. “That is the part we have to clean up. If not, Delta will make short work of us. We want to be competitive.”
Olivia Kunkler, a junior, led the team with 10 kills, half of those came in the second set. Kunkler’s first kill of the second set sparked a quick three-point run that helped Jay County erase a 3-1 deficit.
Her second and third came on consecutive points in a 5-0 run during which her freshman sister Alana also had a kill.
The point by the younger Kunkler — she finished with three kills and a block — gave the Patriots a 13-7 advantage, and, after a JCHS setting error, Olivia Kunkler slammed a kill down the left side of the court.
Later, after Blackford (1-20) had scored consecutive points, Kunkler notched her fifth and final kill of the set to make it 18-12. Blackford never got as close as six points the rest of the set.
“Olivia hit the ball fairly well tonight,” Medler said. Kunkler also had an ace. “It was a good night for Olivia. When she did stay back (away from the net) she was hitting better shots, more powerful shots and placed shots.”
Kaelyn Weaver was second on the team with nine kills, and shared the team-high of two blocks with freshman Natalie Miles.
Two aces in the third set helped the Patriots jump out to a 5-1 lead, forcing Blackford coach Mark Rodgers into taking his first timeout. Out of the break, Kailee Denney immediately recorded another ace, then notched one more as the Patriots totaled 10 straight points.
A 5-0 run later in the set made it 17-4 before Blackford was able to take five of the next six points. A Bruin ace, combined with a JCHS service error, a Blackford block and an attack error by the Patriots forced Medler into taking a timeout.
It was then he told his team they were again not mentally in the match.
“Just tried to get them refocused and to play hard and to finish it out,” he said.
Miles ripped a kill off of Blackford’s Heather Harty out of the break, and then junior Randi Ferguson went back to the service line and helped the Patriots close out the match on a 7-0 run that included back-to-back Olivia Kunkler kills.
“Randi is very good at just putting the ball in play as a server,” Medler said. “She went back and ran several points for us.”
Even if they eliminate the mistakes, Medler knows he has a tough task in preparing the Patriots for the Eagles, who won in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-12) when the teams met Aug. 17 at JCHS.
“We have to do the things we can to deny them the things they’re strong at,” he said. “They’ll be big at the net. They’ll block well. They’ll stuff our hits. They’ll come hard and swing hard at the ball so our block has to be ready.
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