Patriots fix woes to beat Jets

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MONROE – Things weren't quite going the way of the Patriots in the opening set.

As Jay County was ahead by five, the Adams Central's Ava Kintz ripped a pair of kills.

Then the Patriot offense struggled to find open space in the other side of the court.

The result was a 12-0 run that helped the Jets take the opening set.

The Patriots didn't lose again.

The Jay County High School volleyball team rebounded from a setback in the opening set to take the next three in a 23-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-22 win over the Adams Central Flying Jets in the second Allen County Athletic Conference tilt for both teams.

“I didn't want to waste a timeout and call a timeout,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team moves to 14-6 (2-0 ACAC). “We just needed to shut down that (run) a lot earlier. Had we shut that down earlier it might not have gotten away from us.”

Kintz's kills trimmed the Jay County deficit to 14-11 in the opener before three straight attack errors tied the score.

Sage Hammond and Kintz kills, as well as two more mishaps offensively and a net violation put Adams Central (7-8, 0-2 ACAC) out front 19-14.

Known for letting his teams dig out of tough stretches rather than forcing a timeout to help kill momentum, Medler stayed true to his ways and kept his timeouts. But an ace and another attack error capped a 12-0 ACHS run and the Jets went on to take a 1-0 set lead on their home floor.

“Our serve receive went down, nobody was talking and we all just kind of hung our heads down and didn't play as a team,” said JCHS junior Hallie Fields, who finished with six kills and a block.

Jay County, which is off until a matchup with Blackford on Monday in Hartford City, dropped the first point of the second set but never trailed in evening the match at one set apiece. With the score 16-11 in favor of Jay County, a service error gave the ball back to the Patriots, who then rattled off five straight points. Madison Dirksen had one of her six kills in the run, and Natalie Miles notched one of her 10 kills.

“We just kind of started talking more, communicating with each other, stepping up and passing the ball where we needed to,” Fields said of the turnaround.

An Alana Kunkler kill kicked off a 5-1 run in the fourth set that made it 13-8. Adams Central hung with Jay County by trimming the margin to just two points twice – 13-11 and 16-14 – before the Patriots nabbed nine straight points for the 2-1 advantage.

Kunkler led all players with 11 kills, and continued to be a force at the net by totaling a match-high seven blocks. Miles' 10 kills were second.

Jay County once again had a 14-9 in the fourth set only to see Adams Central come roaring back. The Jets used a five-point run, aided by a net violation, a setting error, a Patriot attack error and an ace, to even the score at 17-all.

The set was tied again at 19 and 21. But Kunkler added two more kills as Jay County took four of the next five points for the match victory.

“That last game they came back and challenged us a little bit but I stil think we controlled the match after (the first set loss),” Medler said. “I was pleased with the way we played.”



Junior varsity

Like their older counterparts, Jay County wasn't too worried about dropping the opening set as it rallied to beat Adams Central, 16-25, 25-21, 25-5.

Hannah Muhlenkamp's four kills paced the Patriot attack, as it got two kills apiece from Jayden Claytor, Izzy Rodgers and Kylie Klopfenstein.

Pacie Denney's four aces were a team-high, and she shared the lead of five assists with Rodgers.

Maddy Wenk and Klopfenstein notched 13 and 11 digs respectively.