Patriots shake off Tigers

The Patriots desperately needed a win.

They started the season with five straight victories, but were 1-3 in the four matches since.

Tuesday night against a conference rival, the Patriots took the first two sets with relative ease.

The third didn’t go their way. And the fourth turned into a dogfight.

Natalie Miles came through late, ripping two of her match-high 12 kills in helping the Jay County High School volleyball team to a 25-14, 25-17, 21-25, 25-21 victory over the Bluffton Tigers in their first Allen County Athletic Conference match of the season.

“Natalie was ready to come in and make some kills. You could tell by her swings and the way she was hitting the ball,” said JCHS coach Karley Reid, whose team improved to 7-3 (1-0 ACAC) and travels to Woodlan on Thursday. “She was finding the hole in the block, hitting around the block, so she was definitely getting up and you could tell she was ready to pound them down.”

Hunter Morrison fired a kill of her own off the Patriot block as the Tigers (3-9, 0-2 ACAC) pulled within one, 21-20, in the fourth set. Miles ripped a point down the left side of the court past Emme Boots, who had just served, to make it 22-20. An attack error put JCHS ahead 23-20 to force Bluffton coach Stacy Morrison into calling her second timeout.

Out of the break, Miles blasted another kill to give Jay County match point. It wasn’t able to return an attack from Bluffton on the next point, but the Tigers then committed a passing error to end the match.

“We were looking to come out and win this game, boost our confidence a little bit,” said Reid, noting she changed the lineup a little bit and the team was still getting used to new roles. “We lost one (set) but we’re learning and we’re building.”

Jay County couldn’t quite shake Bluffton through the first two sets. The home team’s biggest advantage through the first 22 points was only three, until a stretch of three Patriot points made it 15-10. Izzy Rodgers, who led all players with 18 assists, served six points in a 7-0 Patriot run that put the first set away.

Bluffton again fought to stay with Jay County in set two after falling behind 6-2 early on. A five-point swing tied the score at 13, and the score was knotted again at 15.

Miles, who also led the team in digs (22) and aces (four), notched two of the latter as part of a 10-2 run to end the second set.

Sara Hemmelgarn was second to Miles in kills with 10, and Hallie Fields finished with seven kills in addition to her 15 digs.

Bluffton finally came through in the fourth set, using a late run to lead 22-20. Up until that point it was only the third time the Tigers were ahead on the scoreboard after getting the opening point in both the first and third sets.

At the end of the night, Miles voiced her frustration to hefamily at the way the match transpired. Reid, too, was disappointed it took four sets to win, as they both felt it could have been over much sooner.

“I had total faith in my girls we could have won that in three (sets),” Reid said. “We just got a little bit down toward the end of (the third set) and weren’t able to shake it off to get that third win.

“I had confidence in my team that we could come back out in the fourth and win it no matter what.”



Junior varsity

Jay County was hardly challenged in a 25-15, 25-6 win over Bluffton.

Lily Hedges had six kills, two aces and two blocks for the Patriots. Madison Brunswick and Madison Jetmore had three kills apiece, while Ralyn Chaffins and Jetmore both had four digs and three aces.