Patriots down Argylls

The Patriots had to fight to take the first set.

The second went to the Argylls.

To get momentum back in their favor, the Patriots created game within the game.

The new goal worked.

Jay County High School’s volleyball team rebounded from dropping the second set to take the next two in winning the season opener against Madison Grant on Tuesday, 30-28, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17.

“I think the first couple of games it was just a matter of them trusting each other and starting to click,” said first-year coach Amy Dillon. “That last game I felt like we played much more relaxed.”

Dillon’s goal was to break the game into five-point segments — be the first team to five points, and get to 10 before the Agylls reached five points, and so on.

While they didn’t necessarily achieve those goals early in the third set, a late surge, complete with two Natalie Miles aces as well as both a kill and a block from Alana Kunkler, helped the Patriots grab the 2-1 advantage.

Madison-Grant (0-1) was first to five points, then 10, before Jay County (1-0) jumped out front 11-10. The Argylls led by as many as four points on three occasions before the Patriots’ comeback late.

In set four, Jay County (1-0) won each of those mini games and never trailed in putting away Madison-Grant.

“I felt like they mentally got focused and had a goal in that (third) game,” Dillon said. “I felt like the last game they really started to relax and play and keep that goal in mind.”

Miles, one of four Patriot seniors, made her presence felt early on as she recorded nine of her team-high 13 kills in the opening set alone. She was relatively quiet on the offensive end after that, though she did come up with a handful of plays sending the ball over the net from deep on the Patriots’ side of the court.

Junior Madison Dirksen and senior Kunkler helped pick up the slack a little bit offensively as they had 10 and nine kills, respectively. Abbie Fields contributed five kills as well.

“I think it really says a lot for our girls,” Dillon said. “I expect Natalie, Madison Dirksen, Alana, and Pacie (Denney) as setter to really step up there on the court.

“I think it’s good for us in the upcoming games that we have other people that are able to step up and do that.”

Denney set up her teammates to the tune of 21 assists. Miles finished with 25 digs to lead the Patriots, and Grace Brewster had 19.

The opening set was a precursor to the back-and-forth nature of the night. Jay County jumped on top of Madison-Grant by a 9-2 margin, only to have the Argylls cut the deficit to 13-12 and force Dillon into a timeout.

A Kunkler kill and a Brewster ace later put the Patriots on top by four, 21-17, but the Argylls tied it up by taking four of the next five points thanks to an Azmae Turner block, a pair of Grace Holmberg kills and a Katie Garringer kill.

Jay County later faced set point three times but avoided defeat. The last of those, an Argyll attack error, tied the score at 28 before a Dirksen kill and a net violation gave the set to the Patriots.

In set two, Jay County trailed by as many as seven points before trimming the margin to one on two occasions, including 24-23, but Madison-Grant led wire-to-wire.

It was at that point Dillon broke up the remainder of the match into segments in order to get her team re-focused.

“I’m really pleased,” she said. “I’m very happy with the way things went tonight.”

Jay County’s junior varsity team won 25-18, 25-22. Isabella Denton led the Patriots (1-0) with five kills, and Madison Brunswick was second with four. Lauren Brewster had 11 digs and Sophie Saxman collected a dozen assists.