Jay tops Stars (08/26/20008)

It's been a slow start to the season for the Starfires. But they jumped on top of Jay County quickly Monday night.

Still, the Patriots made a line-up change to win close second and third games and then blew out visiting South Adams in the fourth for a 22-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-6 victory in high school volleyball.

"It's been interesting, and it's going to be interesting this year," said veteran JCHS coach Fred Medler, noting his team's inexperience. "And then when we tried to put kids in different spots, that just makes it harder. ... We've just got to keep playing."

That's exactly what happened Monday. The Patriots (2-3) just kept playing, and eventually did enough things to pick up a win over South Adams (0-7).

The key was the second game, when Medler made a line-up change to move Chelsea Grady from left side attacker to the libero position she played last year. That pushed sophomore Laura Castillo into the left side spot, and changed the Patriots' serving rotation.

Still, they were down by five points in the second game after a serving run by the Starfires' Jacie Yoder before getting the spark they needed.

It came when Amy "Sug" Alig stepped behind the service line and smacked back-to-back aces off the arms of Sarah Richert. She served up two more points with the help of consecutive kills from fellow middle hitter Sarah Westgerdes to even the score and force a Starfire timeout.

"Jacie ... got us buried in a hole. But then Sug came in and returned the favor," said Medler. "She normally doesn't serve for us, but she got on a roll ... and she got those points right back for us. ...

"(We told them), 'We can't light the fire for you. You've got to light the fire. And all match long we've had no fire until Sug made some good plays for us ...'"

The remainder of the second game and the third saw momentum shift back-and-forth, but Jay County came out on top of both. The Patriots took control in the fourth game as three aces - two by Grady - and kills from Lindsey Current, Westgerdes and Kelsey Wood pushed them to an early 8-2 lead.

South Adams (0-7) never really made a charge, scoring consecutive points just once in the fourth game. Kelci Reed served the final eight points in a row for the Patriots, ending the match with an ace in front of Heather Guereca.

"I think a lot of it was we got down by five or six points at the beginning (of game four) and instead of rallying together, they kind of started playing their own game," said first-year SAHS coach Ashley Buckingham.

"That's what we're working on is teamwork and trying to build each other up and support each other so when you get down you just keep working away ..."

Wood's 17 digs, 13 kills and 13 points, including four aces, were all team highs for Jay County. She was a perfect 20-for-20 behind the service line.

Westgerdes also had 13 kills, and Grady notched 17 digs.

"Kelsey Wood has just been solid all year long," said Medler. "She's not doing anything super spectacular, but she's just been solid for us. We're getting her a few sets that she can swing at, and we're getting her a bunch of junk sets that she's not hitting out of play."

Castillo had 13 digs, Alig chipped in 10 kills and Reed totaled 10 points. Liz Walker put up 12 assists, and Kristi Morningstar had 11.

The high point for South Adams came in the opening game as it scored the first five points and never trailed. Whitney Ellinger was responsible for three of those opening five points with two kills and a block off Alig.

The senior controlled the net for much of the match, racking up 15 kills and nine blocks.

"She played fantastic," said Buckingham of Ellinger. "Her hitting was great. She was able to see the block.

"And her blocking was fantastic. It really kept us in the first two games. They have two great middles and she was able to read them and really get some touches that helped our defense out a lot.

"I'm really proud of the effort in the first three games. We're still working. We kind of show our youth when we get into fourth and fifth games. Our goal is to win more points every match, and we're doing that ..."

Yoder had 20 assists and 13 digs for the Starfires. Amber Neuenschwander totaled 14 digs.

Junior varsity

Jay County cruised to a 25-16, 25-16 victory over the Starfires to improve to 3-2 on the season.

Becky Muhlenkamp led the Patriots with nine points and four digs. Kassi Hemmelgarn added five points, including four aces, three assists and two kills.

Alyssa Rigby finished with six points and three digs, and Taylor Burress had four kills.

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