Spikers rally to defeat Woodlan

WOODBURN — The Patriots nearly suffered their first conference loss of the season.
The Warriors won the first two sets 25-20, 25-19.
But one set away from just its second loss of the season, the Jay County High School volleyball team put together its rally.
It turned into the eighth-straight win for the Patriots.
Jay County defeated the host Woodlan Warriors 20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-6 Thursday.
The Patriots move to 10-1 (2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) on the season. Their only loss was Aug. 20 to Delta, which at the time was ranked No. 4 in Class 3A.
Kylie Osborne led the Patriots with 16 kills. She also had seven digs.
Abby Barcus tallied nine kills, had four aces and was a perfect 29-for-29 from the service line. Abby Wendel, who tallied five kills and 11 digs, was also stellar on her serves, converting all 18.
Sophomore Chloe Trissel paced the defense with a dozen digs, and like Barcus and Wendel, was flawless serving. She made 20-of-20 attempts, as the Patriots only missed five of their 97 serves.

Jay tops Oak Hill
CONVERSE — Both times Emma Laux has scored this season, her younger sister has too.
Emma and Lucy Laux both had goals Thursday, leading the Jay County girls soccer team to a 2-0 victory against Oak Hill.
Jay County is now 4-0-1 since dropping its season opener to Richmond on Aug. 18.
Senior captain Emma Laux notched her second goal of the season in the first half to put the Patriots up 1-0 against the host Golden Eagles.
In the same half, forward Gabbie Mann assisted on Lucy’s 10th goal of the season, which is a team high.
Goalkeeper Lilly Rogers made three saves for her third shutout of the season.
Jay County hosts South Adams at 10 a.m. Saturday. A victory against the Starfires will secure the Allen County Athletic Conference championship for the Patriots.

Golf falls to Delta
EATON — The Patriots had their best round of the season.
It wasn’t enough in a 177-190 loss to the Delta Eagles at Lakeview Greens Golf Course.
Three players — seniors Brooke Sanders, Abby Saxman and Sydney Robbins — either tied or set new career-bests. Sanders’ 44 was a new career low, beating her previous best by three strokes. Saxman shot a 47 to tie her best score from Aug. 27. Robbins also had a sub-50 score, finishing with a 49 to tie her career best from Aug. 25.
Kendra Dodd closed out the Patriots’ team total with a 50, which was her best round of the season.
Also competing were Rachel Antrim (51), Carlie Wickey (54), Cassie Reno (50), Madison Brown (57) and Olivia Braun (60).

Tennis shut out
BLUFFTON — The struggles continued Thursday for the Jay County boys tennis team in a 5-0 loss to Bluffton.
The Patriots (1-7, 0-2 Allen County Athletic Conference) have lost six consecutive matches.
At No. 1 singles, Jay County senior Alex Clark lost to Grant Pribble 6-2, 6-0. Jay Houck dropped his No. 2 singles match to Mitchell Kuhlenbeck 6-1, 6-1, and at No. 3 singles Garrett Rodgers fell to Aaron Sturgeon 6-0, 6-3.
The Patriots’ No. 1 doubles team of Sok Vormohr and Payton Heniser lost 6-0, 6-1 to Collin Barker and Reggie Garrett. At No. 2 doubles, Luke Weaver and Evan Van Cise lost 6-2, 6-2.
Jay County also lost all 11 junior varsity matches.

Chiefs rout Panthers
MUNCIE — Four players scored touchdowns for the Chiefs on Thursday as the East Jay Middle School eighth grade football team routed the Muncie Southside Panthers 55-6.
The seventh grade Chiefs also won, 28-6.
MaCuly LeMaster scored rushing touchdowns of 60 and 25 yards out, and he also paced the Chief defense with 10 tackles.
Zak Atkins also ran for two scores from 12 and 2 yards out. Gabe Link connected with Logan Duran for touchdown passes of 25 and 40 yards respectively, and Garrett Mann also found the end zone on a 3-yard run.
Drake Mason and Derrick Allen teamed to sack the Muncie quarterback in the end zone for a safety in the third quarter.
Hunter Lairson and Mason also had fumble recoveries.
For the EJMS seventh graders, Bailey Cox scored two touchdowns on eight carries. R.J. Lennartz and Landon Grimes also added touchdown runs.
The eighth graders move to 3-0 on the season, while the seventh grade squad is now 2-1.

Warriors beat Chiefs
East Jay’s seventh and eighth grade volleyball teams lost to the Woodlan Warriors on Thursday.
The seventh grade squad fell 24-25, 25-22, 15-5, and the eighth graders were swept 25-21, 25-23.
Natalie Miles led the seventh graders with five kills. She also tallied five aces and four assists.
Alana Kunkler had two kills to go with her three assists, and Ashlyn Dow recorded three aces. Pacie Denney, Kearston Myers, Anna Heath and Dow had one kill apiece.
Logan Poore, Macey Weitzel, Elyse Bost and Shadie Canterbury had two kills each to lead the eighth graders. Sara Hemmelgarn and Poore also tallied four digs.