July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
No. 3 AC slams Jay Co. (08/25/04)
JCHS volleyball
PORTLAND — Just a hunch, but the Jay County volleyball team will probably be spending most of its practice time this week working on passing. It was all coach Fred Medler could talk about after Tuesday’s 25-17, 25-13, 25-16 loss to the Class 2A No. 3 Adams Central Jets.
“The thing that’s going to be a bugaboo for us is passing,” he said. “Every junior high team, every JV team, every varsity team knows the two things you have to do are pass serve and serve well. If you do those two things you have a chance to compete. Right now this bunch is really struggling with their confidence in passing. ...
“Until we can (pass), things are going to be ugly.”
Lindsey Cloninger opened the match with an ace off of Miranda Tingley’s arms, and added another as she staked Adams Central to a 6-0 lead. Cloninger would finish with six aces in the match.
Jay County (2-4) bounced back and tied the match at 12-12 on an ace by Erin St. Myers. But, when Adams Central coach Joan Gross implored her team to stop giving away points, it responded.
The Jets (3-0) scored the next six points, completing the run to an 18-12 lead on back-to-back kills by Ashley Manley and Cloninger. The Patriots never pulled closer than five in dropping the first game.
Gross said her team just needed to get aggressive.
“We’ve struggled a little bit with that this year,” said Gross. “I think part of that is because of leadership. Somebody hasn’t stepped up and taken that role. There are three seniors and they kind of what to share it, and that usually doesn’t work.”
Cloninger, who is one of the three seniors, again gave her team a 5-1 lead in the second game. The advantage grew to 9-2, and Jay County once again never got closer than five points.
The home team got a brief lift as it brought sophomores Theresa Reinhart and Erica Clark in to start the third game. It jumped out to a 7-1 lead thanks in part to a kill by Reinhart and three points, including an ace, on her serve.
However, the lead was short-lived as the Jets ran off seven straight points to pull ahead. The Patriots edged to a 10-9 lead, but dropped 13 of the next 15 points on the way to the defeat.
“It wasn’t enough,” said Medler of the run early in the third game. “AC started picking the gaps with their serve. They were great servers. (They were) attacking that back line with the serve.”
Cloninger finished with six digs to go along with her excellent serving. Fellow senior Katie Mitchel tied for the team lead with six digs and was second with nine kills.
Manley, a junior, paced the Adams Central attack with 10 kills.
“(Manley) has had three years of varsity experience and I think it shows now,” said Gross. “She needs to step up because we have to have somebody in there who is going to put the ball away and it’s going to be her.”
Erin St. Myers finished with five kills, eight digs and a pair of aces. Kelly Sautbine had 14 digs, Miranda Tingley put up nine assists and Shannon O’Dell had five kills.
Reinhart had three kills and three aces in the third game, while Clark posted five assists.
The Patriots played without junior middle hitter Markie Runyon, who suffered what Medler said he thought was a high-ankle sprain in warm-ups. Medler has praised Runyon for her play early this season.
But, he again said the key was passing.
“We’re hunting for a group of kids who can be confident next to each other and move their feet and get to every ball,” Medler said. “When we even half-way passed the ball, we were right there with them. But when we didn’t pass the ball they just rammed it down our throats.”
Jay County will have a few days to work on the passing before heading to the Heritage Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m.
Junior varsity
The Patriot junior varsity team (1-5) gave Adams Central a run in the first game, but couldn’t pull off a victory in at 25-23, 25-19 defeat Tuesday.
Theresa Reinhart led the team with five digs, and also shared a team high with four kills. Shelby Rines also had four kills to go along with four digs.
Ashley Horn scored eight points, Erica Clark had seven assists and Jessica Muhlenkamp came up with four digs.
Freshman
Jay County’s freshman team opened its season with a defeat, falling by a 25-14, 25-10 score to Adams Central Tuesday.
Julie Alig picked up half of the Patriots’ kills — two — and also paced the team with four points. Paige Klinger and Brittany O’Dell each had five digs. Stephanie Wellman notched two assists, and Sharon Dirksen served a pair of aces.[[In-content Ad]]
“The thing that’s going to be a bugaboo for us is passing,” he said. “Every junior high team, every JV team, every varsity team knows the two things you have to do are pass serve and serve well. If you do those two things you have a chance to compete. Right now this bunch is really struggling with their confidence in passing. ...
“Until we can (pass), things are going to be ugly.”
Lindsey Cloninger opened the match with an ace off of Miranda Tingley’s arms, and added another as she staked Adams Central to a 6-0 lead. Cloninger would finish with six aces in the match.
Jay County (2-4) bounced back and tied the match at 12-12 on an ace by Erin St. Myers. But, when Adams Central coach Joan Gross implored her team to stop giving away points, it responded.
The Jets (3-0) scored the next six points, completing the run to an 18-12 lead on back-to-back kills by Ashley Manley and Cloninger. The Patriots never pulled closer than five in dropping the first game.
Gross said her team just needed to get aggressive.
“We’ve struggled a little bit with that this year,” said Gross. “I think part of that is because of leadership. Somebody hasn’t stepped up and taken that role. There are three seniors and they kind of what to share it, and that usually doesn’t work.”
Cloninger, who is one of the three seniors, again gave her team a 5-1 lead in the second game. The advantage grew to 9-2, and Jay County once again never got closer than five points.
The home team got a brief lift as it brought sophomores Theresa Reinhart and Erica Clark in to start the third game. It jumped out to a 7-1 lead thanks in part to a kill by Reinhart and three points, including an ace, on her serve.
However, the lead was short-lived as the Jets ran off seven straight points to pull ahead. The Patriots edged to a 10-9 lead, but dropped 13 of the next 15 points on the way to the defeat.
“It wasn’t enough,” said Medler of the run early in the third game. “AC started picking the gaps with their serve. They were great servers. (They were) attacking that back line with the serve.”
Cloninger finished with six digs to go along with her excellent serving. Fellow senior Katie Mitchel tied for the team lead with six digs and was second with nine kills.
Manley, a junior, paced the Adams Central attack with 10 kills.
“(Manley) has had three years of varsity experience and I think it shows now,” said Gross. “She needs to step up because we have to have somebody in there who is going to put the ball away and it’s going to be her.”
Erin St. Myers finished with five kills, eight digs and a pair of aces. Kelly Sautbine had 14 digs, Miranda Tingley put up nine assists and Shannon O’Dell had five kills.
Reinhart had three kills and three aces in the third game, while Clark posted five assists.
The Patriots played without junior middle hitter Markie Runyon, who suffered what Medler said he thought was a high-ankle sprain in warm-ups. Medler has praised Runyon for her play early this season.
But, he again said the key was passing.
“We’re hunting for a group of kids who can be confident next to each other and move their feet and get to every ball,” Medler said. “When we even half-way passed the ball, we were right there with them. But when we didn’t pass the ball they just rammed it down our throats.”
Jay County will have a few days to work on the passing before heading to the Heritage Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m.
Junior varsity
The Patriot junior varsity team (1-5) gave Adams Central a run in the first game, but couldn’t pull off a victory in at 25-23, 25-19 defeat Tuesday.
Theresa Reinhart led the team with five digs, and also shared a team high with four kills. Shelby Rines also had four kills to go along with four digs.
Ashley Horn scored eight points, Erica Clark had seven assists and Jessica Muhlenkamp came up with four digs.
Freshman
Jay County’s freshman team opened its season with a defeat, falling by a 25-14, 25-10 score to Adams Central Tuesday.
Julie Alig picked up half of the Patriots’ kills — two — and also paced the team with four points. Paige Klinger and Brittany O’Dell each had five digs. Stephanie Wellman notched two assists, and Sharon Dirksen served a pair of aces.[[In-content Ad]]
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