Swept out of state

Jay County had gone more than a week with a banged up roster.
Its top offensive player Abby Barcus was sidelined with a foot injury. Senior and four-year player Abby Wendel has been nursing a sore back to start the season.
Junior setter Lizzy Schoenlein missed a tournament, and her classmate Emilie Walter is still out with an ankle injury.
Tuesday, the Patriot volleyball team was nearly back at full strength.
Fort Recovery, however, was still without one of its best attackers, Morgan Lennartz.
Jay County used its experience to fend off a feisty Tribe squad and sweep its state-line rival, 25-17, 27-25, 25-22.
“They could have (gone) either way,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team moves to 7-1 on the season and travels to take on the Class 2A No. 1 Wapahani Raiders on Thursday. “They were just right there ready to come back against us.”
In fact, the first set was tied a total of nine times through the first 24 points. Jay County nabbed a 2-0 lead thanks to an ace from junior Britlyn Dues and a block from Barcus. Back-to-back errors by the Patriots helped the Indians (2-2) tie the score for the first time.
Jay County never had more than a two-point lead in the first half of the set. Fort Recovery was able to tie the set at 11 when the Patriots were caught out of rotation, and then took its only lead of the set, 12-11, on a kill by Abby Wenning.
Barcus — who had 16 kills to lead the Patriots — spiked the ball through the Tribe block to tie the set for the final time and sparked a streak of four consecutive points for Jay County.
“It felt awesome,” Barcus, who also had three aces, nine digs and a block, said of returning to the court. She hurt her left foot during the Aug. 20 match against Delta, and still wears a boot when she’s not playing. “I didn’t expect to be back this fast. I was a little nervous. I haven’t (played) in a week. I didn’t know what to expect.”
Fort Recovery’s Kendra Siefring — the senior committed to play for Ohio Dominican — notched one of her team-high 16 kills to end the run, and the Indians got within one again on a JCHS attack error following a five-volley point.
The Patriots then went on to a 10-3 run to close out the first set on their home court.
“What I told the girls is it boils down to experience,” said second-year FRHS coach Chelsea Rogers. “We have three freshmen and two sophomores playing all around. Basically their whole team came back from last year.
“I think that experience kind of set the tone.”
It certainly worked in Jay County’s favor, especially when closing out the second set.
The Patriots had an early 6-2 lead, and the Indians never let the deficit get any larger. The visitors tied the set at 15, 16 and 18 before rattling off three consecutive points for a 21-19 lead. Siefring slammed home a kill to tie the set at 19 — the score was knotted seven times — and then gave her squad the lead with one of her two blocks on the night.
Fort Recovery led again 22-20, and had the score tied two more times before dropping the set 27-25.
 “We just need more production from more girls. (Siefring) is running the show,” Rogers said. No other Tribe player had more than four kills. “We need her to continue to do that (but) others need to step it up and we just don’t have that right now.”
Jay County grabbed a 7-2 lead to start the third set, and pushed its advantage to as many as seven, 11-4. Fort Recovery slowly chipped away, trailing by as little as one point, but the Patriots held off the Indians for the sweep.
Kylie Osborne was second for the Patriots with nine kills. Wendel paced the defense with 11 digs, and Schoenlein tallied 30 assists.
Cassidy Martin and Carley Stone each had four kills for Fort Recovery. Kirsten Jutte recorded 15 assists, and Madison Grover totaled a dozen digs.

Junior varsity
After dropping the first set 25-16 and coming within four points from defeat, Jay County stole the second set 25-22 to even the match.
But the third belonged to Fort Recovery, which escaped with a 15-14 victory in the set to win the match.
Sydney Dues led the Indians with seven kills, with Carly Link adding five. Hannah Knapke and Kiah Wendel each had three kills. Madison Rammel tallied 14 assists and seven digs.
Olivia Kunkler had a team-high six kills for the Patriots. Sarah Walter had four, with Randi Ferguson and Hanna Ault — who was celebrating her 16th birthday — each chipped in with two kills.