Delta dumps Jay Co. (10/25/04)

MUNCIE — Jay County volleyball coach Fred Medler was happy with the effort his team put forth in its final match of the season. But, against one of the best teams in the state, it was not nearly enough.

The Class 3A No. 8 Delta Eagles cruised past the Patriots in the sectional semifinal round at Delta 25-13, 25-11, 25-18 Saturday.

The Eagles (24-9) went on to crush seventh-ranked Blackford in the championship match 25-14, 25-18, 25-23. They advance to play in the Wawasee regional Saturday.

Delta coach Biff Wilson said he made sure his team was ready for Jay County, which had an up-and-down season last year before nearly defeating Blackford in the championship match.

“We played Jay way back at the beginning of the season, and Jay County and Fred (Medler) have a way of in the postseason really bringing it,” said Wilson. “You know they’ve improved over the course of the year and they’re out there to win.”

The Patriots (9-25) stayed with Delta for the first 12 points of the match, but the Eagles broke the 6-6 tie and rolled after that. They used a 5-0 run to open a lead, and continued on a 12-3 stretch for an 18-9 advantage.

Delta never trailed again in the entire match.

Jay County scored back-to-back points just once in the first game after being tied at 6-6. Setter Mallorie Smith ended the first game by catching the Patriots off guard with a tip, which she did six more times over the final two games.

Both coaches said the Eagles’ ability to get the ball to Smith, who finished with 33 assists, eight kills and six digs, was the key to the match.

“We’re pretty aggressive,” said Wilson. “It all comes back to our ball-handling. If our ball-handling is good — passing the ball — we have an excellent setter and a lot of excellent hitters.”

“We weren’t giving them easy things to handle, but they were still putting it right on Mallorie (Smith’s) hands and ramming in down our throats,” said Medler of Delta’s passing. “We just weren’t big enough to block.”

The Eagles dominated early in the second game, taking eight of the first nine points. They led 12-5 and added another 6-0 run later in the game en route to the 25-11 win.

The third game was tied 2-2, but Delta gradually built a 13-9 lead. From there Smith served them to a 4-0 run and Jay County never pulled closer than five points the rest of the way.

McKenzie Mauck paced the Eagle offense with 15 kills. Kristy Cox added seven, and Ali Rector had six. Brittney Danaher and Ashlee Miller shared the team-high of six digs with Smith.

Jay County got team highs of six kills and five points from junior Kelly Sautbine. She finished 12-of-12 serving with one ace, and also had 10 digs.

Erin St. Myers posted a team-best 12 digs to go along with five kills and three points. Erica Clark had eight assists, and Leah Gasparovic followed with seven.

“We passed the ball a whole lot better than we have all year long,” said Medler. “It may not look like it, but in reality when you’re playing against a team of Delta’s caliber and we can pass the way that we did it’s a lot better than we have all year long. We were more consistent.

“We didn’t play bad. We played a good match.”[[In-content Ad]]