Bruins edge Patriots (09/19/03)

PORTLAND — Fred Medler will take that kind of effort every day and twice on sectional Saturday if he can get it.

The Jay County volleyball team came out on the wrong end of a five-gamer against the Blackford Bruins Thursday. But, the overall play by the Patriots (5-11) in the 23-25, 21-14, 18-21, 21-10, 15-10 defeat was the utter antitheses of what Medler saw from them last weekend.

“(I’ll take that) any night and every night the rest of the year,” said Medler, whose team struggled to an 0-3 showing at the Tippecanoe Valley Tournament this weekend. “I was pleased with the effort, just not the result. There were a lot more positive things tonight than there were.”

Blackford coach Kim Stump said she wasn’t surprised at the tightness of Thursday’s match.

“Whenever us and Jay get together it doesn’t matter what your season is like, it’s always like this,” she said. “And if we meet again in sectional, it will be like this too.

“We knew their record wasn’t indicative of what they could do.”

Last year Blackford (15-3) crushed Jay County during the regular season, only to have the Patriots return the favor on the way to a second straight sectional title.

Blackford’s only losses this year are to Class 4A No. 1 Muncie Central, Class 2A No. 2 Wapahani and Class 2A No. 4 Alexandria. It defeated new sectional rival and Class 3A No. 6 Delta last week.

The contest between Jay County and the Bruins looked like a barn-burner from the get go, with neither team scoring a point on its own serve until Whitney Osborn put away a kill for a 5-4 Blackford lead. Neither team led by more than three in the entire game, and they were tied 12 different times, including at 23-23.

After trailing 23-22, the Patriots scored back-to-back points on attack errors by Melany Rarey and Osborn. Erin St. Myers finished the game with a kill off of Rarey’s outstretched arms.

The second game was similar, with the teams tied six times before Blackford stepped out to a 16-12 lead. Sara Hough and Becki Beeler put away kills to cut the lead to two before Rarey went wild.

The junior unleashed four of her match-high 23 kills in the final five points as Kasey Michael served the Bruins to victory.

Jay County jumped back on top 4-0 in the third game, thanks to a trio of Blackford errors and an ace by Sarah Ainsworth. The Patriots never trailed in the game, but also never led by more than four points.

Blackford pulled even at 16-16, and trailed 19-18 after an Osborn kill. However, St. Myers came up with some late heroics with another big kill, and Ainsworth ended the game the way it started with another ace.

Solid defense by Jay County — especially from Hough — allowed the team to go toe-to-toe with the Bruins in the first three games.

“Defense starts with your serving, and we serving decently,” said Medler. “It puts the other team on its heels. The next part of defense is the block — and we got some against them — but they have excellent hitters.”

It was in the fourth game that the Patriots got sloppy, and Blackford was more than ready to take advantage.

Ainsworth opened by hitting her first serve into the net, and the Bruins built a 5-1 lead. From there Michael served 10 straight points, with a pair of Jay County time outs in the middle.

Four of the points came on Patriot errors, and two more were from Emily Confer kills. The 13-point lead was plenty, and Blackford cruised to a 21-10 win to force the fifth game.

Rarey put down a pair of kills as the Bruins took a 5-1 lead in the deciding game, and Osborn set the tone for the conclusion after Jay County had pulled within two. After Kelly Sautbine served one into the net, Osborn rocketed a kill nearly perpendicular to the ground for an 11-7 lead.

It was by far the best attack of the match, and Medler took a time out to try to get his team back on track. However, Blackford scored the next point and the Patriots never pulled closer than four the rest of the way.

“They actually started hitting toward the open spots,” said Stump of why her team was able to come back from a two games to one deficit.

“And, it helped that Whitney Osborn was on. She played very well tonight.”

Osborn finished just two back of Rarey with 21 kills. Rarey added 15 digs and a couple of aces.

Lyndsey Osborn had three blocks and two aces, and Brittany McCoin had 28 assists.

Jay County’s top attacker was St. Myers, who finished with 11 kills. Hough, Beeler and Ashley Overla each had seven.

St. Myers also paced the team with 19 digs, and Hough added 17. Ainsworth scored nine points, and put up 17 assists.

“We went back and just talked about confidence in ourselves,” said Medler of what changed after last weekend. “We had to eliminate mistakes. We tried to cut down on the errors that were happening on the floor.”

The Patriots will need to continue with a similar effort when they play at the Franklin Community Tournament Saturday at 9:30 a.m.[[In-content Ad]]