Jay rebounds to win ACAC opener

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

All Rights Reserved

The Patriots got a little too confident.

They beat the Tigers in the opening set by 11 points.

The near certainty of winning the match was almost costly.

Jay County High School’s volleyball team wasn’t able to keep the momentum in the second game but rebounded to take the next two in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Bluffton Tigers in its Allen County Athletic Conference opener.

“I think we just got too confident in ourselves in the second set and we just let down and didn’t take it as serious,” said JCHS senior Chloe Trissel, who along with her teammates defeated the Tigers 25-14, 16-25, 25-20, 25-6.

Trissel’s classmate, Kaelyn Weaver, offered an explanation as to why the Patriots (5-5, 1-0 ACAC) got a little too complacent after the first game.

“We weren’t really communicating properly as a team together,” she said. “Kind of just let down. We picked it up though and we started communicating together.”

Much of that miscommunication was because JCHS coach Fred Medler toyed with the lineup a bit. He took out a majority of the starters in favor of underclassmen, and the Tigers took advantage.

A service error gave Bluffton the ball and the momentum, and behind the serve of senior Emma Clines the Tigers rattled off the next seven points for a 23-11 advantage. Clines had a pair of aces, and Jay County’s attackers committed three errors.

The Patriots got back to within single digits with help of an Alana Kunkler block and ace from Maggie Pryor. They got as close as 24-16, but a service error gave the Tigers the win.

“It was a chance to get some kids in,” Medler said of making substitutions. “It may have been a game early, but on the other hand if it went three I wanted to mess with the lineup even more. Plus I wanted to see kids step on (the court) and play through stuff. Wanted to see other people step up.

“I think we just relaxed and weren’t able to ever get it back. It was fine with me. It’s cost me matches before in the past, but on the other hand in the long run it makes us better so that is what we were after on the court tonight.”

Jay County jumped out to a 6-0 lead in game three, and Bluffton rallied to get as close as one point, 10-9. The Patriots couldn’t shake the Tigers the rest of the way as their biggest lead was 19-14. The advantage dwindled to 19-17, but the Patriots took six of the next nine points for the victory.

“We kind of got yelled at in our huddle by Fred,” Trissel said of what fired up the Patriots after game two. “It got our energy up and going. We realized we needed to get it done or else they were going to come back and take advantage of it.”

The fourth set belonged to Jay County from the start, as it scored the first five points and never trailed. The Tigers clawed for a point here and there, even getting consecutive points once, but weren’t able to string together much in the way of offense.

An attack error put Jay County out front 16-6 before Sarah Walter went back to the line and served nine consecutive points for the match victory. The run included two Weaver kills and four Bluffton attack errors.

Weaver finished with 18 kills, and Kunkler was second on the team with five.

“She’s hitting with confidence,” Medler said of Weaver.

But Weaver, one of two JCHS seniors, was quick to give praise elsewhere.

“It’s all in the setter,” she said. “It is all Kailee Denney. She is pretty good, actually very good. I can’t hit as well as I did without Kailee Denney.”

During its five wins, Jay County has depended on its servers, and it was Olivia Kunkler’s turn in game one to be successful from the line. The sophomore put her toe to the line with her team leading 11-9 and proceeded to serve up 11 consecutive points with two aces. During the run, Sarah Walter, Weaver and Trissel each had kills.

“Olivia Kunkler made a great string of serves,” Medler said. “Without that, it’s a tight game.”

“I think we served well as a team,” added Trissel, who also had one ace. Jay County had 11 total. “I think we could have been better. Our consistency can suffer a little bit when we have stronger serves like that.”