AC tops Patriots

Long after the team result was decided, Becky Muhlenkamp and Emily Huntsman were still battling. Their long night was worth it.

Jay County High School's No. 2 doubles duo fought off Katie Andrews and Amy Goulet of Adams Central 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Thursday night to earn the Patriots' only point in a 4-1 loss to the visiting Flying Jets.

Huntsman and Muhlenkamp dropped the first three games of the second set after winning the first, and then fought back to a 4-4 tie before Goulet and Andrews won a pair of games to force a third. They fell behind again in the deciding set before winning four of the final five games to take the match.

"We played flat at times ... In that second set we definitely got flat at the end. We got our intensity back up ... in the third set," said JCHS coach Roy Adams. "We got that drive to get back on top. We've just got to maintain that and keep it going."

Muhlenkamp and Huntsman were in a fight from the beginning Thursday. Each of the other four varsity positions had already completed a set, all losses for JCHS (3-6), before the No. 2 doubles match had completed its fourth game.

At that point the pair of Patriots trailed 2-1, but theybounced back to take five of the next six games to capture the first set. They dropped the first three games of the second set before pulling even.

Adams Central's duo responded by serving to a 5-4 lead, and then broke Muhlenkamp's serve for the third set.

Again Huntsman and Muhlenkamp fell behind, trailing 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before picking up three straight games for a 5-3 lead. Adams Central pulled back within 5-4, but could not break Huntsman's serve to even the score despite a 30-love lead.

A winner from Huntsman and an error from the Flying Jets brought the 10th game of the set back to 30-30, and a Muhlenkamp slam gave JCHS its first match point. The Patriots failed to convert their first two match-point opportunities before Muhlenkamp sent a volley winner up the middle to end the match.

"We've been working and focusing on that," said Adams of Muhlenkamp's move to the net for the winning shot. "We want to take control of the net more.

"They're showing a little more aggressiveness. They're really attacking the net."

The rest of the JCHS lineup had a difficult evening against Adams Central.

At No. 2 singles, Hannah McAbee fought back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set to get within 4-3. But she dropped the next eight games to Chelsea Selking for a 6-3, 6-0 loss.

The other two singles matches were both 6-0, 6-0 shutouts as Kayla Martin fell to Rachel Barger at No. 1 and Brittany White lost to Lauren Harvey at No. 3.

"The other teams are just more consistent than we are right now," Adams said of the singles positions. "It really becomes who survives a rally and who can keep going longer."

Megan Huntsman and Briann Saxman won a game early in each of their sets at No. 1 doubles against Katie Johnson and Janelle Bertsch. However, Adams Central ran off four straight games in each set to hand the Patriots a 6-1, 6-1 defeat.

"We saw some good points and we saw some good execution at times," said Adams. "We had some execution errors, some over-swings. There are times you want to be aggressive and times you just want to stay and play."

Junior varsity

Adams Central swept the singles matches as it handed the Patriots a 9-1 defeat.

The lone victory for Jay County came from Danielle Chenoweth and Dezi Clay at No. 2 doubles. They defeated Hannah Harvey and Breann Stuckey 5-3, 5-3.[[In-content Ad]]