October 2, 2015 at 5:33 p.m.
One point away from victory, Abby Barcus’ potential match-winning shot sailed long and out of bounds.
Her next opportunity to give the host Patriots the win didn’t miss.
Barcus slammed her 16th kill of the match through the middle of the Heritage defense as the Jay County High School volleyball team beat the visiting Patriots 3-1 to secure the Allen County Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
“It feels awesome,” said senior Ava Kunkler, whose Jay County squad defeated Heritage 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 after dropping the first set 26-24. “We remembered how to play good again.”
JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team moved to 18-3 with a perfect 6-0 mark in the ACAC, said he was happy to get the championship trophy after having it slip away during the Patriots’ first season in the conference.
“You never look past anybody, but looking ahead I knew Heritage was going to be tougher than nails to play against,” he said. “They are just really tough.”
Heritage (19-4, 5-1 ACAC) benefited from seven Jay County service errors in the first set, during which Haley Hoffman, a 6-foot, 3-inch, IUPUI commit, also made her presence known at the net with half of her match-high eight blocks.
But during the break, the host Patriots settled down and didn’t let the first loss turn into more.
“We knew that we just had to stop (Hoffman) because we kept hitting into her block,” said JCHS senior Abby Wendel, who had a baker’s dozen kills to tie Kunkler. “We had to hit around her. We had to clean up our own errors because that is what was killing us and giving them their points.”
In the second set, the host Patriots committed only three errors from the service line, the last of which got the visitors within two points, 15-13.
Kylie Osborne, who narrowly missed double-digits with nine kills, had an attack hit the net but fall in to extend Jay County’s lead to 16-13.
Osborne then went back to the service line and changed the complexion of the match, putting it in favor of the home team that donned pink and gray cancer awareness uniforms and played in front of one of its largest home crowds.
Osborne tallied one of her three aces and Kunkler notched a kill to make the score 17-13, forcing Heritage coach Steve Walter into calling a timeout.
Out of the break, a block and a kill by Kunkler, a Lizzy Schoenlein tip, another Osborne ace and kills by both Kunkler and Wendel helped Jay County to a nine-point run and a 24-13 lead.
“It really changed momentum and it really gave us the confidence that we had the game in the bag,” Osborne said.
“Our problem, mentally we did not pick ourselves back up,” Walter said. “We kind of checked out at that point. We started making excuses instead of picking ourselves up and going back out there and bringing what we had been bringing the entire season.
“Jay County is a great team. I was just impressed. (They are) very disciplined, scrappy.”
Consecutive streaks of three points by Heritage put it ahead 10-9 in the third set, but Jay County used a 6-2 run to lead 15-12. The hosts held the lead until the visitors tied it at 18, 19 and again at 20. But then Kunkler tipped the ball over the Heritage block and Wendel recorded an ace to give Jay County the advantage for good.
Makalah Krick blocked Wendel to get Heritage within one, 23-22, but back-to-back Barcus kills gave Jay County a 2-1 set advantage.
The host Patriots served three streaks of five or more points — seven by Kunkler, five from Schoenlein and five from Chloe Trissel — to get Jay County ahead 19-11 in the fourth set.
Back-to-back Heritage blocks cut the deficit to six. Wendel’s final kill of the night found space down the left side of the court, sparking a 3-0 run to get Jay County three points away from a championship.
After Heritage scored to delay the celebration, Barcus tallied consecutive kills to give Jay County match point. Heritage responded with two points, one of which Barcus’ attack that sailed long.
“Once we started playing I thought we were better than them tonight,” said Medler, whose team begins ACAC tournament play at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Woodlan at Heritage in Monroeville. “That is not always the case, but tonight I thought we were better than them once we put the ball in play.”
Trissel and Wendel both had 11 digs, and Barcus added nine. Schoenlein tallied 44 assists to go with her pair of kills.
Junior varsity
Much like their varsity counterparts, Jay County lost the first set.
It dominated the final two.
Jay County defeated Heritage 22-25, 25-16, 15-11, improving to 13-4 on the season.
Sarah Walter and Olivia Kunkler led the host Patriots with 10 and eight kills respectively. Hannah Dillon added four.
Maggie Pryor paced the defense with 13 digs, while Alayna Aparicio tallied nine. Kailee Denney and Walter recorded six digs.
Denney notched 14 assists and Kendal Garringer chipped in with eight.
Her next opportunity to give the host Patriots the win didn’t miss.
Barcus slammed her 16th kill of the match through the middle of the Heritage defense as the Jay County High School volleyball team beat the visiting Patriots 3-1 to secure the Allen County Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
“It feels awesome,” said senior Ava Kunkler, whose Jay County squad defeated Heritage 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 after dropping the first set 26-24. “We remembered how to play good again.”
JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team moved to 18-3 with a perfect 6-0 mark in the ACAC, said he was happy to get the championship trophy after having it slip away during the Patriots’ first season in the conference.
“You never look past anybody, but looking ahead I knew Heritage was going to be tougher than nails to play against,” he said. “They are just really tough.”
Heritage (19-4, 5-1 ACAC) benefited from seven Jay County service errors in the first set, during which Haley Hoffman, a 6-foot, 3-inch, IUPUI commit, also made her presence known at the net with half of her match-high eight blocks.
But during the break, the host Patriots settled down and didn’t let the first loss turn into more.
“We knew that we just had to stop (Hoffman) because we kept hitting into her block,” said JCHS senior Abby Wendel, who had a baker’s dozen kills to tie Kunkler. “We had to hit around her. We had to clean up our own errors because that is what was killing us and giving them their points.”
In the second set, the host Patriots committed only three errors from the service line, the last of which got the visitors within two points, 15-13.
Kylie Osborne, who narrowly missed double-digits with nine kills, had an attack hit the net but fall in to extend Jay County’s lead to 16-13.
Osborne then went back to the service line and changed the complexion of the match, putting it in favor of the home team that donned pink and gray cancer awareness uniforms and played in front of one of its largest home crowds.
Osborne tallied one of her three aces and Kunkler notched a kill to make the score 17-13, forcing Heritage coach Steve Walter into calling a timeout.
Out of the break, a block and a kill by Kunkler, a Lizzy Schoenlein tip, another Osborne ace and kills by both Kunkler and Wendel helped Jay County to a nine-point run and a 24-13 lead.
“It really changed momentum and it really gave us the confidence that we had the game in the bag,” Osborne said.
“Our problem, mentally we did not pick ourselves back up,” Walter said. “We kind of checked out at that point. We started making excuses instead of picking ourselves up and going back out there and bringing what we had been bringing the entire season.
“Jay County is a great team. I was just impressed. (They are) very disciplined, scrappy.”
Consecutive streaks of three points by Heritage put it ahead 10-9 in the third set, but Jay County used a 6-2 run to lead 15-12. The hosts held the lead until the visitors tied it at 18, 19 and again at 20. But then Kunkler tipped the ball over the Heritage block and Wendel recorded an ace to give Jay County the advantage for good.
Makalah Krick blocked Wendel to get Heritage within one, 23-22, but back-to-back Barcus kills gave Jay County a 2-1 set advantage.
The host Patriots served three streaks of five or more points — seven by Kunkler, five from Schoenlein and five from Chloe Trissel — to get Jay County ahead 19-11 in the fourth set.
Back-to-back Heritage blocks cut the deficit to six. Wendel’s final kill of the night found space down the left side of the court, sparking a 3-0 run to get Jay County three points away from a championship.
After Heritage scored to delay the celebration, Barcus tallied consecutive kills to give Jay County match point. Heritage responded with two points, one of which Barcus’ attack that sailed long.
“Once we started playing I thought we were better than them tonight,” said Medler, whose team begins ACAC tournament play at 6 p.m. Tuesday against Woodlan at Heritage in Monroeville. “That is not always the case, but tonight I thought we were better than them once we put the ball in play.”
Trissel and Wendel both had 11 digs, and Barcus added nine. Schoenlein tallied 44 assists to go with her pair of kills.
Junior varsity
Much like their varsity counterparts, Jay County lost the first set.
It dominated the final two.
Jay County defeated Heritage 22-25, 25-16, 15-11, improving to 13-4 on the season.
Sarah Walter and Olivia Kunkler led the host Patriots with 10 and eight kills respectively. Hannah Dillon added four.
Maggie Pryor paced the defense with 13 digs, while Alayna Aparicio tallied nine. Kailee Denney and Walter recorded six digs.
Denney notched 14 assists and Kendal Garringer chipped in with eight.
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