Jay spikers win invitational

In Thursday’s win over sixth-ranked Delta, it was blocks that helped spur the upset.

On Saturday, the Patriots aced their way to a couple of sweeps.

Jay County High School’s volleyball team racked up 28 aces Saturday as it cruised to victory as tournament hosts. It rolled to wins of 25-13, 25-21, 25-7 over Northeastern in the opener and 25-9, 25-14, 25-7 over Anderson to take the title.

The Patriots (4-0) gave up the opening point of the day against Northeastern.

That’s when Natalie Miles recorded a kill and then went to work behind the service line. She ripped off three aces in a stretch of four serves — the other point came on an Alana Kunkler kill — as the home team took a lead it would never relinquish.

Madison Dirksen notched two aces during another five-point run that put JCHS up 20-9 en route to taking the first set.

The second set was more closely contested, but Miles tallied three more aces and Sara Hemmelgarn finished off the set with one of her own. And Hemmelgarn recorded back-to-back aces late in the third set before two attack errors by the Knights ended the match.

Miles and Kunkler led the ace parade, with the former recording six against Northeastern and the latter six against Anderson. Maddy Wenk notched four aces against Anderson, and Dirksen added four aces on the day.

Miles also racked up a team-high 18 kills on the day, 13 of which came against Northeastern. She added eight digs against the Knights.

Hemmelgarn matched Miles against Northeastern with 13 kills. Grace Brewster recorded seven digs against Anderson and Alana Kunkler totaled four blocks.

Pacie Denney finished the day with 38 assists.