August 21, 2017 at 5:49 p.m.
Patriots fall in tourney final
Jay Co. gets first two wins, but drops title match to Marion
Patriots fall in tourney final
By By CHRIS SCHANZ and RAY COONEY-
The Patriots picked up their first wins of the season. But the tournament title on their home court eluded them in the final match of the day.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team couldn’t outlast the Marion Giants in the championship match Saturday, finishing as the runner-up in the Patriot Invitational.
“We came in with the thought process we wanted to win all three, but there’s no guarantees,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team defeated the Northeastern Knights (25-10, 25-6) and Anderson Indians (25-8, 25-16) before falling to the Giants (26-24, 10-25, 15-11).
Stellar serving and lengthy point streaks helped the Patriots beat the Knights and Indians, but looking to win its early-season invitational for the fifth straight year against Marion, the serving wasn’t quite as solid. Leading 24-23 in the opening set of the championship match, JCHS missed a serve that helped Marion take the set 26-24. Jay County rebounded to dominate the second 25-10, and the teams played neck-and-neck for the first 24 points of the third and deciding set before the Giants won 15-11.
The strong start to the day for the Patriots (2-3) came on Chloe Trissel’s serve.
After Weaver tipped the ball to the floor for a 3-2 Jay County lead, Trissel notched her first ace. Her second, with plenty of topspin, landed in front of Northeastern’s Brianna Shepherd for ace No. 2.
Two more aces forced a timeout from from Knights coach Sara May, but didn’t stop the pattern. Trissel added two more aces before the team from Fountain City finally stopped the streak.
Northeastern was never able to close the gap, and the Patriots finished on a 10-1 run. That stretch included five kills from Weaver and two more aces from Trissel.
It was more of the same in the second game, with Trissel adding two more aces to give her 10 for the match before Kailee Denney served 12 straight points. Denney’s service run included four aces — she had five total against the Knights — and Weaver finished off the 25-10, 25-6 win with back-to-back aces.
Medler said the win was a step in the right direction as his team’s attacking had struggled in opening losses to Madison-Grant and Delta and serving has also not been where he would like it to be.
“Well, today, the difference, the serving was where we wanted it and moreso,” said Medler. “And then the attacking part, we started bad. We had a couple kills and then there was a string of six attacks and five of them were errors … and that’s when I called the timeout. … From that point on, our attacking came back.”
Weaver led that effort at the net, racking up a .591 attacking percentage with 15 kills as she dominated from the middle. Denney totaled 17 assists, and Randi Ferguson came up with 11 digs.
Against Anderson, Jay County nabbed the first three points before Anderson took two of the next three to make it 4-2. But then Weaver notched a kill which gave Denney the serve, and she rattled off 11 consecutive points for a 16-2 advantage. The Indians nearly trimmed the deficit back to single digits, but an attack error and five consecutive points on Maggie Pryor’s serve made it 23-5.
Jay County trailed 9-8 in the second set, but Pryor served three points and Randi Ferguson added four to push the Patriots ahead 17-12. The Indians got two points back before Olivia Kunkler notched a kill that kickstarted a six-point streak from Trissel.
Trissel had a team-high 14 aces for the day, while Denney was second with a dozen.
“They take care of business,” Medler said. “Those two step back to the line and they took care of business. They saw what the other team was doing and they knew what they needed to serve to.
“That is such a confidence builder for all the rest of them. We get in those runs and the other team doesn’t even stand a chance because we get into those long runs. On the other side, teams have not been getting long runs against us.”
Weaver led Jay County’s offense as she totaled 44 kills over the three matches, including a 19-kill effort against Marion.
Sarah Walter (11) was the only other player to reach double digit kills, while Natalie Miles and Kunkler had nine apiece.
Ferguson and Trissel each had 30 digs, and Pryor was second on the team with 20. Weaver also had a team-high five blocks while freshman Alana Kunkler chipped in four blocks.
Junior varsity
A two-headed offensive attack helped the Patriots sweep their way to the tournament championship.
Jay County knocked off Northeastern (25-15, 25-21) and Anderson (25-21, 25-21) before a dominating 25-15, 25-12 win over Marion for the title.
Sara Hemmelgarn and Hallie Fields had 14 kills apiece for Jay County, which also got seven kills from Macey Weitzel. Hemmelgarn also had a team-high 14 aces, as Fields (eight) and Pacie Denney (seven) were second and third respectively.
Denney notched 14 digs and Hemmelgarn had 13, to go with her team-high four blocks.
Jay County High School’s volleyball team couldn’t outlast the Marion Giants in the championship match Saturday, finishing as the runner-up in the Patriot Invitational.
“We came in with the thought process we wanted to win all three, but there’s no guarantees,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler, whose team defeated the Northeastern Knights (25-10, 25-6) and Anderson Indians (25-8, 25-16) before falling to the Giants (26-24, 10-25, 15-11).
Stellar serving and lengthy point streaks helped the Patriots beat the Knights and Indians, but looking to win its early-season invitational for the fifth straight year against Marion, the serving wasn’t quite as solid. Leading 24-23 in the opening set of the championship match, JCHS missed a serve that helped Marion take the set 26-24. Jay County rebounded to dominate the second 25-10, and the teams played neck-and-neck for the first 24 points of the third and deciding set before the Giants won 15-11.
The strong start to the day for the Patriots (2-3) came on Chloe Trissel’s serve.
After Weaver tipped the ball to the floor for a 3-2 Jay County lead, Trissel notched her first ace. Her second, with plenty of topspin, landed in front of Northeastern’s Brianna Shepherd for ace No. 2.
Two more aces forced a timeout from from Knights coach Sara May, but didn’t stop the pattern. Trissel added two more aces before the team from Fountain City finally stopped the streak.
Northeastern was never able to close the gap, and the Patriots finished on a 10-1 run. That stretch included five kills from Weaver and two more aces from Trissel.
It was more of the same in the second game, with Trissel adding two more aces to give her 10 for the match before Kailee Denney served 12 straight points. Denney’s service run included four aces — she had five total against the Knights — and Weaver finished off the 25-10, 25-6 win with back-to-back aces.
Medler said the win was a step in the right direction as his team’s attacking had struggled in opening losses to Madison-Grant and Delta and serving has also not been where he would like it to be.
“Well, today, the difference, the serving was where we wanted it and moreso,” said Medler. “And then the attacking part, we started bad. We had a couple kills and then there was a string of six attacks and five of them were errors … and that’s when I called the timeout. … From that point on, our attacking came back.”
Weaver led that effort at the net, racking up a .591 attacking percentage with 15 kills as she dominated from the middle. Denney totaled 17 assists, and Randi Ferguson came up with 11 digs.
Against Anderson, Jay County nabbed the first three points before Anderson took two of the next three to make it 4-2. But then Weaver notched a kill which gave Denney the serve, and she rattled off 11 consecutive points for a 16-2 advantage. The Indians nearly trimmed the deficit back to single digits, but an attack error and five consecutive points on Maggie Pryor’s serve made it 23-5.
Jay County trailed 9-8 in the second set, but Pryor served three points and Randi Ferguson added four to push the Patriots ahead 17-12. The Indians got two points back before Olivia Kunkler notched a kill that kickstarted a six-point streak from Trissel.
Trissel had a team-high 14 aces for the day, while Denney was second with a dozen.
“They take care of business,” Medler said. “Those two step back to the line and they took care of business. They saw what the other team was doing and they knew what they needed to serve to.
“That is such a confidence builder for all the rest of them. We get in those runs and the other team doesn’t even stand a chance because we get into those long runs. On the other side, teams have not been getting long runs against us.”
Weaver led Jay County’s offense as she totaled 44 kills over the three matches, including a 19-kill effort against Marion.
Sarah Walter (11) was the only other player to reach double digit kills, while Natalie Miles and Kunkler had nine apiece.
Ferguson and Trissel each had 30 digs, and Pryor was second on the team with 20. Weaver also had a team-high five blocks while freshman Alana Kunkler chipped in four blocks.
Junior varsity
A two-headed offensive attack helped the Patriots sweep their way to the tournament championship.
Jay County knocked off Northeastern (25-15, 25-21) and Anderson (25-21, 25-21) before a dominating 25-15, 25-12 win over Marion for the title.
Sara Hemmelgarn and Hallie Fields had 14 kills apiece for Jay County, which also got seven kills from Macey Weitzel. Hemmelgarn also had a team-high 14 aces, as Fields (eight) and Pacie Denney (seven) were second and third respectively.
Denney notched 14 digs and Hemmelgarn had 13, to go with her team-high four blocks.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
250 X 250 AD