Pats fall just short of upset (10/27/03)

MUNCIE — For the second time this year Jay County knocked the eighth-ranked volleyball team in the state into a giant chasm. But, for the second time this year the Bruins were able to claw their way out.

The Patriots nearly upset No. 8 Blackford after taking a 2-0 lead, but junior Melany Rarey brought her team roaring back for a 20-22, 12-21, 21-9, 21-15, 15-9 Bruin victory in the finals of Saturday’s Delta Sectional.

Jay County was in search of its third straight sectional title while Blackford (31-4) won for the first time since 1975.

“It has been so long,” said Bruin coach Kim Stump, who was a freshman on the school’s last championship squad. “It’s great. It’s the best.”

It also may have been the best match the Patriots (15-21) played all year, right up there with their regular-season, 23-25, 21-14, 18-21, 21-10, 15-10 loss to Blackford and a win over Class A No. 8 Wes-Del.

“We had ‘em where we wanted ‘em,” said Jay County coach Fred Medler after his team nearly pulled off the upset. “That’s a great day for us. We stepped on (the court) and played excellent.”

Both teams needed big wins just to get to Saturday’s championship match.

The Patriots crushed Elwood in the first round 21-13, 21-7, 21-16 before needing five games to get by Tipton 18-21, 21-19, 21-19, 20-22, 15-9. Blackford had the difficult task of taking out the host two-time defending state champion No. 10 Delta Eagles 24-22, 15-21, 21-15, 21-18.

Even after Blackford came back from a two-game deficit to force game five, the Patriots had a chance to claim the championship. They trailed 9-8 after an Erin St. Myers kill, but then Blackford pulled away.

Sisters Whitney and Lyndsey Osborn delivered back-to-back kills, forcing Medler to take a time out as his team trailed by three. It worked as Jay County got the ball back, but the glimmer of hope was short-lived.

Rarey and Kasey Michaels notched back-to-back kills, and the Patriots committed back-to-back attack errors to give the Bruins the win.

“The last two years it’s been the same situation and Jay County beat us,” said Stump, noting the Patriots’ talent despite their record. “They play a lot of teams that have good records. If you look at the scores, they’ve been in almost every match this year.”

Jay County grabbed the 2-0 lead in the title match, pulling out a 22-20 win in the first game on a Sarah Ainsworth ace. It simply dominated the second game, getting an eight-point service run — including two aces — from senior Sara Hough.

But then Rarey took over.

The junior outside hitter got the first kill on senior Whitney Osborn’s serve, starting a 7-0 run. Rarey got a second kill in the stretch while Osborn scored a pair of aces.

The Patriots stopped Blackford momentarily, but Rarey put down back-to-back kills and Lyndsey Osborn added an ace for an 18-7 Bruin lead. Rarey nailed a kill to end the third game, and she was just getting started.

She tied the third game at 4-4, starting a stretch during which she had five of her team’s next six kills. Jay County sliced into the 15-5 lead to pull within five points, but Laura Borgenheimer tied the match at 2-2 with a tip off of a diving Kelly Sautbine.

Rarey set a school record with 50 attacks, getting kills on 27 of them. She also had a team-high 23 digs and shared team bests with three blocks and three aces.

Whitney Osborn contributed 11 kills, 15 digs and three aces, and Brittany McCoin had 26 assists.

“I think they finally went ‘Oh my god. It’s now or never,’” Stump said of her team’s comeback. “They flipped a switch, started relaxing and started playing.

“(Rarey) just rared back and swung. The flip side of that coin is everybody else had to get her the ball.”

Blackford moves on to the Wawasee Regional to play Northridge (24-9). Fort Wayne Elmhurst (15-8) will play No. 5 Fort Wayne Concordia (32-3) in the other regional semifinal

Hough had nine kills, 11 points and 16 digs for Jay County. Shannon O’Dell also had nine kills.

St. Myers had 10 digs, and Ainsworth put up 28 assists.

“Pound for pound, inch for inch, they’re hard-nosed kids,” said Medler of his three outgoing seniors Hough, Ainsworth and Becki Beeler after their final match. “They’re going to be hard to replace.”

Semifinals

The Patriots had a tough semifinal opponent as well, taking five games to beat Tipton 18-21, 21-19, 21-19, 20-22, 15-9.

They led 20-19 in the fourth game as they tried to put the match away, but Tipton rallied to force game five. However, Shannon O’Dell used the momentum she built in game four to carry Jay County.

O’Dell, who had been on the bench after some previous mistakes, returned to the lineup on fire. She had a pair of kills apiece in each of the Patriots two 5-0 runs in the fifth game as they took a 14-7 lead after trailing 6-4.

Loren Sloan got back-to-back kills to keep Tipton alive, but Erin St. Myers got one of her own to put Jay County in the finals.

O’Dell finished with 11 kills, seven of which came in the final two games. Hough had 13 kills and 12 points, and St. Myers also notched 11 kills.

Ainsworth finished with 40 assists, and Beeler had 30 digs.

“We just told her to shake it off and regroup,” said Medler of O’Dell. “Then she stepped back out there and she was an animal. It was a great response from her.”

First round

Jay County took advantage of a host of Elwood Panthers mistakes in a quick 21-13, 21-7, 21-16 victory.

Elwood was close for a while in the first and third games, but couldn’t win either. Game two was simply a blowout.

After Jay County won the first game thanks to a quick start by Hough (seven kills), the Panthers fell apart. They had service errors on each of their first three tries, and did not score a point on their serve in the game as the Patriots took control.

The third game was tied at 11 before St. Myers served three straight points — two on Hough kills — as Jay County took a 15-11 lead it would never relinquish.

Hough led the team with 13 kills and 20 digs, St. Myers scored 14 points and Ainsworth had 24 assists.[[In-content Ad]]