September 29, 2017 at 3:24 a.m.
Conference title bid falls short
Jay County falls to Heritage in four sets of ACAC finale
Conference title bid falls short
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
Jay County didn’t expect to be there.
In what most believed would be a rebuilding year, the opportunity to play for the Allen County Athletic Conference championship was an afterthought.
With the Heritage Patriots on the other side of the net and the aforementioned conference title up for grabs Thursday, the home team came up just a little short.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team won the first set but couldn’t keep the momentum as it dropped the next three in a 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23 loss to the Heritage Patriots.
“No, not at all,” JCHS coach Fred Medler said when asked if he pictured such a scenario at the beginning of the season. “I guess I would have hoped, but not at all.
“To be here on our home court playing for the conference season title, I thought there were three teams that could get us, maybe four if we didn’t watch out. To come into this one 5-0, that is an amazing accomplishment.”
For Heritage, which is defending the ACAC tournament championship, it is the first regular season title since 2007. Heritage (19-7, 6-0 ACAC) is now the top seed in the tournament it hosts Tuesday and Thursday.
“It is awesome for the program and for us,” first-year Heritage coach Shelly Schwartz said.
With the match tied at one set apiece, JCHS freshman Natalie Miles had two kills and a block during a 5-0 run that gave Jay County (13-8, 5-1 ACAC) a 20-18 lead in the third. It was short lived, however, as the visiting Patriots rattled off three consecutive points. The set was tied at 21, 22, 23 and 24 as neither squad was able to get much of an advantage.
But Heritage blocked a Jay County attack and HHS sophomore Isabella Roussey slammed home the set-winning kill.
Heritage jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the fourth set thanks to a pair of Grace Castleman aces as well as two kills and a block from Taylor Zelt. The visiting Patriots led by as many as nine, 21-12, before Jay County mounted its comeback.
A service error gave the host Patriots the ball before Miles and Sarah Walter both notched blocks. A Miles kill made it 21-16 forcing Schwartz to call a timeout. Heritage was on the brink of the title as it was out front 24-20, but Olivia Kunkler notched one of her 10 kills and followed it with her third and final block of the night.
Miles was third on the team with nine kills while she and Walter both had three blocks. Alana Kunkler led the JCHS defense with five blocks. Kendal Garringer and Maggie Pryor had 11 digs each.
Kaelyn Weaver, who had six kills in the opening set, fired her team-high 17th kill off the Patriot block to close the gap to 24-23.
Medler called a timeout, during which he simply told his squad it needed to finish strong.
In the opposite huddle, Schwartz was drawing up the play.
Rather than going to sophomore standout Maggie Castleman — she led all players with 20 kills — the visiting Patriots instead opted for Alivia Beard, another free-swinging sophomore.
Miles set the ball over the net and Grace Castleman found Beard, who ripped her seventh kill of the JCHS block for the win.
“Great offensive play,” Medler said. “They set a girl we probably weren’t expecting them to set. Give her credit, she went up, hit off the block. Our defense was close but couldn’t quite reach it.”
“We’ve played a lot of close games,” Schwartz said of how her team was able to bounce back from the first-set loss. “A lot of them are five-set games. We’ve learned to grind it out and we’ve actually succeeded at winning some of those.
“I think that is what it is. I have some seniors on this team that have a heck of a lot of heart.”
One of those seniors, Emily Scheumann, who was second on the team with nine kills, was brought to tears after the win.
“It was phenomenal,” Schwartz said of her team’s emotion.
Medler, on the other hand, was already looking forward to a potential rematch in the ACAC tournament. Heritage will receive a bye to the semifinal. Opening round games will be played Tuesday, with the semifinal and final matches on Thursday.
Jay County, as the No. 2 seed, meets No. 7 at 6 p.m.?Tuesday.
“We’ll figure out what we were doing wrong and clean up little bits,” Medler said. “I know we believe we can beat them. I know we believe we can play with them, so we have to get to the final game probably to play them.”
Junior varsity
Jay County wasn’t able to hold on to a lead as it lost 25-18, 25-19.
Hallie Fields led the Patriots with nine kills while finishing second on the team with six digs.
Sara Hemmelgarn tallied six kills, two blocks and three digs, as Randi Ferguson and Macie Weitzel both had a pair of kills.
Emma James recorded 13 assists as Ferguson notched a team-best seven digs.
All Rights Reserved
Jay County didn’t expect to be there.
In what most believed would be a rebuilding year, the opportunity to play for the Allen County Athletic Conference championship was an afterthought.
With the Heritage Patriots on the other side of the net and the aforementioned conference title up for grabs Thursday, the home team came up just a little short.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team won the first set but couldn’t keep the momentum as it dropped the next three in a 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-23 loss to the Heritage Patriots.
“No, not at all,” JCHS coach Fred Medler said when asked if he pictured such a scenario at the beginning of the season. “I guess I would have hoped, but not at all.
“To be here on our home court playing for the conference season title, I thought there were three teams that could get us, maybe four if we didn’t watch out. To come into this one 5-0, that is an amazing accomplishment.”
For Heritage, which is defending the ACAC tournament championship, it is the first regular season title since 2007. Heritage (19-7, 6-0 ACAC) is now the top seed in the tournament it hosts Tuesday and Thursday.
“It is awesome for the program and for us,” first-year Heritage coach Shelly Schwartz said.
With the match tied at one set apiece, JCHS freshman Natalie Miles had two kills and a block during a 5-0 run that gave Jay County (13-8, 5-1 ACAC) a 20-18 lead in the third. It was short lived, however, as the visiting Patriots rattled off three consecutive points. The set was tied at 21, 22, 23 and 24 as neither squad was able to get much of an advantage.
But Heritage blocked a Jay County attack and HHS sophomore Isabella Roussey slammed home the set-winning kill.
Heritage jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the fourth set thanks to a pair of Grace Castleman aces as well as two kills and a block from Taylor Zelt. The visiting Patriots led by as many as nine, 21-12, before Jay County mounted its comeback.
A service error gave the host Patriots the ball before Miles and Sarah Walter both notched blocks. A Miles kill made it 21-16 forcing Schwartz to call a timeout. Heritage was on the brink of the title as it was out front 24-20, but Olivia Kunkler notched one of her 10 kills and followed it with her third and final block of the night.
Miles was third on the team with nine kills while she and Walter both had three blocks. Alana Kunkler led the JCHS defense with five blocks. Kendal Garringer and Maggie Pryor had 11 digs each.
Kaelyn Weaver, who had six kills in the opening set, fired her team-high 17th kill off the Patriot block to close the gap to 24-23.
Medler called a timeout, during which he simply told his squad it needed to finish strong.
In the opposite huddle, Schwartz was drawing up the play.
Rather than going to sophomore standout Maggie Castleman — she led all players with 20 kills — the visiting Patriots instead opted for Alivia Beard, another free-swinging sophomore.
Miles set the ball over the net and Grace Castleman found Beard, who ripped her seventh kill of the JCHS block for the win.
“Great offensive play,” Medler said. “They set a girl we probably weren’t expecting them to set. Give her credit, she went up, hit off the block. Our defense was close but couldn’t quite reach it.”
“We’ve played a lot of close games,” Schwartz said of how her team was able to bounce back from the first-set loss. “A lot of them are five-set games. We’ve learned to grind it out and we’ve actually succeeded at winning some of those.
“I think that is what it is. I have some seniors on this team that have a heck of a lot of heart.”
One of those seniors, Emily Scheumann, who was second on the team with nine kills, was brought to tears after the win.
“It was phenomenal,” Schwartz said of her team’s emotion.
Medler, on the other hand, was already looking forward to a potential rematch in the ACAC tournament. Heritage will receive a bye to the semifinal. Opening round games will be played Tuesday, with the semifinal and final matches on Thursday.
Jay County, as the No. 2 seed, meets No. 7 at 6 p.m.?Tuesday.
“We’ll figure out what we were doing wrong and clean up little bits,” Medler said. “I know we believe we can beat them. I know we believe we can play with them, so we have to get to the final game probably to play them.”
Junior varsity
Jay County wasn’t able to hold on to a lead as it lost 25-18, 25-19.
Hallie Fields led the Patriots with nine kills while finishing second on the team with six digs.
Sara Hemmelgarn tallied six kills, two blocks and three digs, as Randi Ferguson and Macie Weitzel both had a pair of kills.
Emma James recorded 13 assists as Ferguson notched a team-best seven digs.
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