July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jay County rallies to extend season (10/21/05)
JCHS volleyball
Jay County rallies to extend season (10/21/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
MUNCIE — March out all the cliches.
Their backs were against the wall.
They were on the ropes.
The wheels were falling off and the roof caving in.
Carrying the baggage of an 11-match losing streak and a 5-28 record, the Patriots were down two-games-to-none with the walls closing in on a rough season.
Then Jay County’s volleyball team ran out to a 10-4 lead in game three, never trailed in either the third or fourth game and scored 13 of the final 14 points in the match. It made for a remarkable 24-26, 21-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-5 comeback victory over the Elwood Panthers in the first round of sectional play at Delta Thursday.
“Wow,” said JCHS junior setter Erica Clark, who put up 32 assists in the win. “It’s just been real tense all season and we just finally let loose tonight and played our game.
“Our record didn’t look too good coming in, but like everyone says, sectional is a new season.”
After leading 24-23 and 19-18 in the first and second games respectively and losing both it seemed as if the Patriots’ second season would be short-lived. But finally something clicked.
Jay County won the third and fourth games to pull even, then trailed 4-2 in the fifth before Jessi Wright committed a service error to turn the ball over to Shelby Rines. Once the sophomore had it, she wouldn’t let go.
Rines, who served sparingly in the opening two games, notched aces on six of her first eight tries. She served nine consecutive points, with the Panthers (14-13) taking two futile timeouts during the stretch, before finally hitting one into the net.
Elwood immediately gave the ball back on a Lindsay Collins service error and the Patriots finished off the comeback win.
“She was serving where she wanted to,” said Jay County coach Larry Hinshaw of Rines, who finished with seven aces. “She was consistent. It helped that they were down in their serve receive and had a hard time bouncing back from it.”
Hinshaw said the biggest factor in the comeback was simply his team deciding they were capable of victory. Despite their losing streak, record and the 2-0 deficit, junior Theresa Reinhart said she wasn’t surprised the Patriots were able to rally.
“We lost the first two games on our own mistakes,” she said after posting a team-best eight digs and sharing the team-high of 10 kills with senior Markie Runyon. “We knew that we could do it. We knew we just had to fix the little things and everything would work out.”
The Patriots move on to play Tipton, which defeated Mississinewa’s 25-9, 25-12, 25-15 in Thursday’s other opening-round match, in the semifinal round Saturday at 11 a.m. Delta and Blackford will meet in the other semifinal match at 12:30 p.m. with the championship match scheduled for 7 p.m.
It was clear the match could go either way as neither team gained more than a four-point lead in the opening game. However, Jay County gave away a game-point chance by committing consecutive errors and the Panthers took the 1-0 lead on a kill from Wright.
Trailing 19-18 in the second game Elwood wrested control from the Patriots again, this time on a kill and a block from senior Kyleigh Jones and a kill by senior setter Casey Miller. It used a 5-0 run to take a 23-19 lead and a 2-0 advantage before dropping each of the final three games.
“We didn’t have the drive that we had in the first two games I don’t think,” said Elwood coach Brenda Toney. “I think we got maybe a little overconfident.
“I think once they lost that one game these girls tend to have a hard time getting over that hurdle.”
The biggest difference in the final two games came from Jay County’s serving. After committing 10 service errors in the first two games combined, all of which came with the score separated by two points or less, the Patriots had just five in the final three games combined.
In addition to her team-high kill and dig totals, Reinhart also had three aces. Kelly Sautbine and Sarah Mescher added three aces apiece. Reinhart and Sautbine combined to go without an error in 32 service attempts.
Rines, who missed just one serve in 26 tries, finished with four digs. Brittany O’Dell totaled eight kills, and Runyon added with four digs.[[In-content Ad]]
Their backs were against the wall.
They were on the ropes.
The wheels were falling off and the roof caving in.
Carrying the baggage of an 11-match losing streak and a 5-28 record, the Patriots were down two-games-to-none with the walls closing in on a rough season.
Then Jay County’s volleyball team ran out to a 10-4 lead in game three, never trailed in either the third or fourth game and scored 13 of the final 14 points in the match. It made for a remarkable 24-26, 21-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-5 comeback victory over the Elwood Panthers in the first round of sectional play at Delta Thursday.
“Wow,” said JCHS junior setter Erica Clark, who put up 32 assists in the win. “It’s just been real tense all season and we just finally let loose tonight and played our game.
“Our record didn’t look too good coming in, but like everyone says, sectional is a new season.”
After leading 24-23 and 19-18 in the first and second games respectively and losing both it seemed as if the Patriots’ second season would be short-lived. But finally something clicked.
Jay County won the third and fourth games to pull even, then trailed 4-2 in the fifth before Jessi Wright committed a service error to turn the ball over to Shelby Rines. Once the sophomore had it, she wouldn’t let go.
Rines, who served sparingly in the opening two games, notched aces on six of her first eight tries. She served nine consecutive points, with the Panthers (14-13) taking two futile timeouts during the stretch, before finally hitting one into the net.
Elwood immediately gave the ball back on a Lindsay Collins service error and the Patriots finished off the comeback win.
“She was serving where she wanted to,” said Jay County coach Larry Hinshaw of Rines, who finished with seven aces. “She was consistent. It helped that they were down in their serve receive and had a hard time bouncing back from it.”
Hinshaw said the biggest factor in the comeback was simply his team deciding they were capable of victory. Despite their losing streak, record and the 2-0 deficit, junior Theresa Reinhart said she wasn’t surprised the Patriots were able to rally.
“We lost the first two games on our own mistakes,” she said after posting a team-best eight digs and sharing the team-high of 10 kills with senior Markie Runyon. “We knew that we could do it. We knew we just had to fix the little things and everything would work out.”
The Patriots move on to play Tipton, which defeated Mississinewa’s 25-9, 25-12, 25-15 in Thursday’s other opening-round match, in the semifinal round Saturday at 11 a.m. Delta and Blackford will meet in the other semifinal match at 12:30 p.m. with the championship match scheduled for 7 p.m.
It was clear the match could go either way as neither team gained more than a four-point lead in the opening game. However, Jay County gave away a game-point chance by committing consecutive errors and the Panthers took the 1-0 lead on a kill from Wright.
Trailing 19-18 in the second game Elwood wrested control from the Patriots again, this time on a kill and a block from senior Kyleigh Jones and a kill by senior setter Casey Miller. It used a 5-0 run to take a 23-19 lead and a 2-0 advantage before dropping each of the final three games.
“We didn’t have the drive that we had in the first two games I don’t think,” said Elwood coach Brenda Toney. “I think we got maybe a little overconfident.
“I think once they lost that one game these girls tend to have a hard time getting over that hurdle.”
The biggest difference in the final two games came from Jay County’s serving. After committing 10 service errors in the first two games combined, all of which came with the score separated by two points or less, the Patriots had just five in the final three games combined.
In addition to her team-high kill and dig totals, Reinhart also had three aces. Kelly Sautbine and Sarah Mescher added three aces apiece. Reinhart and Sautbine combined to go without an error in 32 service attempts.
Rines, who missed just one serve in 26 tries, finished with four digs. Brittany O’Dell totaled eight kills, and Runyon added with four digs.[[In-content Ad]]
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