Patriot spikers win two

Jay County cruised past one set of Knights. The other kept them from winning the championship.
The Patriot volleyball team won its first two matches Saturday as it hosted the Jay County Invitational before falling 16-25, 25-18, 15-6 to the Norwell Knights with the championship on the line.
JCHS defeated the Marion Giants 25-23, 25-15 and the Northeastern Knights 25-7, 25-12 in its other two matches. Norwell won the title with a 3-0 record.
Mariah Hornaday paced the Patriots (2-2) on the day, racking up 25 kills, including nine each against Norwell and Northeastern, to go along with 10 aces and six digs. Hannah Ainsworth totaled 61 assists, and Maria Murphy recorded 15 kills.
Alyssa Rigby totaled 10 digs, Malarie Houck had four blocks and four aces, and Jen Dirksen and Randa Gillespie added six digs apiece.

Golfers finish 11th
CONNERSVILLE — The Patriots had a difficult afternoon Saturday at the Connersville Invitational, finishing 11th out of 14 teams with a score of 460.
Indianapolis Cathedral won with a score of 340 ahead of Whiteland (359) and the host Spartans (364).
Alysia Fennig tallied a 109 to lead Jay County, which posted its second-highest 18-hole total of the year in the tournament at Willowbrook Country Club. She had three bogeys, including back-to-back on the first two holes.
Brittany Stevens had four bogeys, all on the front nine, in her round of 111, and Katlin Petro also notched four bogeys on the way to a 114.
Whitney Gray completed the team score with a 126.

Tennis last at invite
DEKALB — Three Jay County players earned their first wins of the season, but the Patriots still finished last out of eight teams at Saturday’s DeKalb Invitational.
Brad Leuthold turned in the top effort for JCHS with a fourth-place finish at No. 2 singles. He defeated Nathan Gerardot of East Noble 3-6, 6-4 (10-3) in the opening round before falling to Angola’s Camerson Hall and Bellmont’s Phil Bauman.
The No. 2 doubles team of Tony Schwieterman and Shawn Homan defeated Shawn Stahley and Austin Sanders of NorthWood 6-2, 6-1 on the way to a sixth-place finish.
Derek Smith, Landry Inman and the team of Chance Fuller and Morton Garringer went 0-2 at No. 1 singles, No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles respectively.

JV volleyball falls
Abbi Dunlavy paced the Patriots as they finished second while hosting the Jay County Invitational.
JCHS defeated Marion 25-13, 25-13 and Northeastern 25-21, 21-25, 15-6. Its lone loss of the day came against champion Norwell.
Dunlavy racked up 17 kills on the day, including seven in the three-game loss to Norwell. Courtney Finnerty finished the day with 15 assists, Ali Inman had 14 digs and Jessica Kerrigan notched four aces.
Inman paced the Patriots with three aces and two digs in Thursday’s season-opening 25-23, 25-12 loss to the visiting Delta Eagles.[[In-content Ad]]