Patriots place 2nd (08/22/05)

After a rough performance in match two, Jay County found its groove again in its third and final match Saturday.

The Patriots defeated the Norwell Knights 25-19, 25-17 in their last match to place second as they hosted the Jay County Volleyball Invitational.

Jay County won its opener 25-19, 25-17 over the Northeastern Knights but dropped its second match 25-20 to the champion Marion Giants, who finished 3-0. Norwell palced third, and Northeastern was fourth.

“I think it was a positive weekend for us that we’re looking to build on,” said Jay County coach Larry Hinshaw. “We’re just working on our weaknesses and ironing out the kinks. We’re still getting used to each other.”

The Patriots (2-3) secured second place with the final-match victory thanks to big efforts from junior Theresa Reinhart and sophomore Shelby Rines.

Reinhart and Rines shared the team lead with four kills apiece. Reinhart racked up four of the team’s eight aces, and Rines shared the team lead in digs with Erica Clark with four.

Clark also picked up 12 assists, and Jessica Muhlenkamp and Markie Runyon each had two blocks.

“The third match we played more like a team,” said Larry Hinshaw. “They played really together and they didn’t let the mistakes shake them.”

Miscues crushed Jay County in its loss to Marion.

The Patriots led the opening game 17-12, but the Giants responded with a 12-2 run. Half of those points came on Jay County mistakes.

Kelly Sautbine held off defeat momentarily with a kill to cut the deficit to 24-20, but a Markie Runyon attack went into the net on the next point to end the first game.

Three consecutive Jay County errors to open the second game helped Marion to roll out to leads of 6-0 and 9-2. The Patriots failed to score back-to-back points until the 25th point of the game. They never pulled closer than six points in a match which included 14 attack errors, more than the other two matches combined.

Clark, the setter, led Jay County in kills with three. She also had eight assists.

Ashley Horn finished with five digs, and Rines notched four.

“Marion was very quick,” said Hinshaw. “It seemed like we had a hard time getting the ball to hit the floor. It seemed like that frustrated our young team.

“We didn’t make them work for their points.”

The Patriots got a couple of solid runs to put away Northeastern in the opening match.

Trailing 15-13 in the first game, Jay County responded after a time out with five consecutive points capped by a Markie Runyon kill. The team never trailed again and took the game 25-19.

Game two was tied at eight points apiece when Jessica Muhlenkamp notched a kill to give Jay County control. Theresa Reinhart stepped behind the line and served seven points in a row, notching three of her four aces during the stretch.

Northeastern never got close the rest of the way, and Reinhart unleashed a kill to complete the victory.

Runyon powered the Patriots with five kills, and Muhlenkamp had three. Muhlenkamp also had three digs.

Clark and Rines each picked up a pair of blocks. Clark notched 11 assists, and Rines had a team-high four digs. Muhlenkamp and Horn each had three digs.

Junior varsity

Jay County’s junior varsity team finished 1-2 for third place at the Jay County Invitational.

The lone victory for the Patriots came by a 25-23, 25-7 score over Northeastern. They lost to Norwell 25-23, 25-20 and Marion 25-19, 25-22.

Julie Alig paced the victory with six of Jay County’s 16 aces against Northeastern. Sharon Dirksen added five aces, and Shanda Morningstar had four.

Morningstar had a team-best six kills on the day, and Alig added five. Dirksen and Alig each totaled 10 aces.

Dirksen finished with nine assists, and Mescher had 11 digs.[[In-content Ad]]