Jay defeats Starfires in 3 (08/22/06)

Jay County is starting to put it together. South Adams is still trying to figure out how.

The host Patriots dominated most of the action Monday night, sending the Starfires back to Berne with a 25-8, 25-18, 25-12 defeat.

"In the opening game we really dismantled and did not play as a team at all," said first-year SAHS coach Lindsay Rowe. "The second game was a lot better. The enthusiasm was up a little bit."

After Jay County dominated the opening game, South Adams had one chance to make it a match in the second.

The Starfires (1-6) fell behind 6-1 in game two, but won 13 of the next 15 points for a 15-8 lead. However, the home team roared right back.

Shelby Rines stepped back to serve and South Adams failed to send two of her first three offerings back over the net. Sarah Westgerdes had two kills and Theresa Reinhart one during the run before Rines ripped her second ace forcing a Starfire timeout.

But it was too late. Rines added another ace after the timeout and pushed Jay County (2-3) all the way from the seven-point deficit to a 20-15 lead.

The Patriots went on another big run in the third game, pushing from a tie at four to a 19-6 advantage.

"Shelby came back and did a really, really good job of picking her spots when she was serving," said Medler of the junior, who shared match highs with 12 points and three aces. "That was a good regroup and a good win in game two instead of letting it get away from us.

"Against Marion on Saturday we let it go ... and we could never get it back. You've got to be able to fight back."

After a 1-2 effort at the Jay County Invitational Saturday, the Patriots came out with guns blazing against South Adams. They took a 20-4 lead in the opening game before SAHS managed to score back-to-back points.

Rines powered Jay County with five kills, six digs and two blocks to go along with her outstanding serving. Reinhart matched Rines' 12 points and three aces and also had four digs, and Stephanie Wellman came up with four digs and three aces as well.

Sarah Mescher notched a match-high seven kills and two blocks, Westgerdes had five kills and Erica Clark had 17 assists.

"Theresa played pretty solid tonight," said Medler. "(Sarah Westgerdes) is coming. You can see it coming. ... Mescher played very well in the first game. She had some really, really solid swings.

"We're still two or three weeks away. Hopefully at that point we're good and getting a lot better."

Jacie Yoder had four assists and two aces for the Starfires, Andrea Moser had four kills and Maranda Potts totaled four digs. Brooke Fox came up with four digs, and Stefni Stutzman had two kills.

Rowe said she feels her team is missing some intensity.

"I don't feel like they have their confidence level up yet to where it needs to be because they do have a lot of talent," she said. "They're just not playing as a team right now."

Junior varsity

Liz Walker and Lindsey Current led the Patriots as they cruised over South Adams 25-14, 25-10 for their first win of the season.

Current and Walker each had five aces for Jay County (1-4). Walker added 13 points and nine assists, and Current finished with 10 points and five kills.

Julie Alig and Kelsey Wood had three kils apiece, Chelsea Grady had four digs and Kelci Reed added three digs.

Jay County Invitational

The Jay County varsity team went 1-2 as the invitational hosts Saturday, the lone win coming by a 25-22, 25-18 count over Northeastern. The Patriots lost 25-22, 25-12 to Marion and 19-25, 25-22, 25-17 to Norwell.

Clark racked up 40 assists in the three matches, along with team highs of 22 points and eight aces. Rines had 14 kills, followed by 13 apiece by Westgerdes and Mescher.

Theresa Reinhart totaled 27 digs, and Rines followed with 25.[[In-content Ad]]