Jay can't grab share of ACAC crown

The Patriots had a chance for a three-way tie for the conference title.

The Jets made sure it was kept between the Adams County schools.

Jay County High School’s girls tennis team dropped a 5-0 match to the Adams Central Jets on Wednesday, ending the team’s bid for its first Allen County Athletic Conference championship and just the second league title in program history.

“Adams Central is good,” said JCHS coach Dave Cramer. “We battled them, but they’re just that much better than us.”

A win would have put Jay County (8-4, 1-2 ACAC) in a three-way tie for the league title with Adams Central and the South Adams Starfires, as all three squads would have been 2-1.

With the Jets’ win, the conference championship will be shared by the Adams County schools.

Lyric Garringer, the team’s only senior varsity player, had the longest battle against Adams Central in her No. 2 singles match. She led Jessica Tobias in the first set, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3, but lost the final three games and dropped the opening set, 6-4.

She lost the second set by the same margin.

“It was a good battle, but just one or two mistakes could change it around,” Cramer said.

At No. 3 singles, Kierston Blunk at times tried to play aggressively and the gamble didn’t pay off, as too many unforced errors led to a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Hillary Tobias.

“She struggled a little bit tonight,” Cramer said. “I think she gets scared or intimidated because she can play a lot better than that.”

Grace Brewster, the team’s No. 1 singles player, lost the first five games to Saige Rinkenbarger before finally getting a tally in the win column. But she wasn’t able to manage to take another game the rest of the match in her 6-1, 6-0 loss.

“(Rinkenbarger) was good,” Cramer said. “Grace fought hard. She plays as hard as she can play, just sometimes you can’t do it.”

The Patriots’ No. 1 doubles team of Madison Dirksen and Rachel Muhlenkamp, like Garringer, showed glimpses that they could pull out a win. After being down 3-1 to Ava Kinter and Becca Fiechter in the opening set, they rallied to take three of the next five games, but eventually lost the 10th game and the set.

They jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the second, but after losing three straight games they weren’t able to get back over the hump to force a third set.

“That’s only their second loss this year,” Cramer said. “Madison has just turned this team around.”

Holly Hemmelgarn and Lilly Hedges had a 3-2 lead over Christian Porter and Abby Miller — giving Jay County a first-set advantage in three of the five matches — but weren’t able to close it out in a 6-3 loss.

The Adams Central duo raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set before Hemmelgarn and Hedges stopped the streak, but the Patriots lost the set 6-1.

“They do well at times,” Cramer said. “Both of them said they didn’t play well tonight, but the other team probably caused that.”

Jay County ends the regular season with a 5 p.m. home match Monday against Alexandria before the sectional tournament begins later next week (the tournament draw is also Monday).

The Patriots, who have not won a sectional title since 2015, have beaten sectional rivals Randolph Southern, Union City and four-time defending champion Winchester this season.

Even so, Cramer said the Patriots still have some work to do.

“Just fundamentals,” he said. “Some of them soften their swing. Follow through, that’s what we preach all the time. They get excited and just chop at it. You can’t do that.”