Jay volleyball beats Woodlan in five sets

WOODBURN — The Patriots are back above .500.

And they’re still perfect in conference play.

The Jay County High School volleyball team shook off a pesky Woodlan squad Thursday, outlasting the host Warriors for a 25-21, 26-28, 25-17, 23-25, 15-13 victory.

Senior Kaelyn Weaver led the Patriots (6-5, 2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) as one of three players to total 10 or more kills. She racked up 17, as freshman Natalie Miles finished with 13 kills and sophomore Olivia Kunkler had a dozen.

Chloe Trissel was effective defensively, tallying 25 digs, while Kendal Garringer was second with 17 and Kailee Denney had 15 digs. Sarah Walter chipped in 13 digs.

Alana Kunkler and Garringer had three aces each, and Miles led the team with three blocks.

Jay County’s junior varsity team swept the Warriors, 25-9, 25-22.

Sara Hemmelgarn totaled four kills and a pair of blocks. Hallie Fields and Hanna James both had two kills, while Fields had three aces and one block as well. Lyric Garringer’s eight digs were tops on the team.



Tennis falls to Tigers

BLUFFTON — Jay County’s boys tennis team dropped its Allen County Athletic Conference opener Thursday as it lost to the Bluffton Tigers, 5-0.

Conner Benter, a JCHS junior, had the closest match of the night as he fell at No. 3 singles to Jarrett Phillipe 6-4, 6-2. At No. 2 singles, Payton Heniser lost to Landon McClish 6-1, 6-2, and Garrett Rodgers dropped his No. 1 singles match 6-0, 6-4, to Evan Baumgartner.

Jay County’s doubles teams both lost 6-2, 6-0. Ethan Myers and Xavier Ninde fell at No. 1 singles to Gave Eisenhunt and Mason Heller. At No. 2 doubles, Sheldon Upp and Gavin Randall lost to Connor Hidday and Rylie Johnston.

The Patriots’ junior varsity team also lost, 6-0. Gabe Blankenship fell to Tanner Cooley 8-5, as the doubles team of Mitchell Ferguson and Christian Romero lost to Wyatt Corkwell and Cooper King 8-6.



Streak snapped

CONVERSE — The Jay County girls soccer team had its season-opening winning streak come to an end Thursday with a 3-2 loss to the host Oak Hill Golden Eagles.

Kendra Muhlenkamp notched her 15th and 16th goals of the season, helping the Patriots (7-1) jump out to a 2-0 advantage in the first half. She put JCHS on the board almost midway through the opening half, and scored again just before intermission.

But three second-half goals from Oak Hill marked the end of the Patriots’ historic start, as it was the most wins to start a season in program history.

Shelby Caldwell made six saves as the JCHS goalkeeper.



Golfers lose to Delta

ALBANY — Jay County’s girls golf team posted its highest score of the season on Thursday in a loss to the Delta Eagles at Albany Golf Club.

The Patriots lost 195-246.

Jazzmine Howell had the best score for Jay County with a 60. Abby Huey and Raquel Wehrly both tied with matching totals of 61, and Mackenzie Parks fired a 64 to complete the team score for the Patriots.

Eden Basford also competed but did not factor into the team score. She finished with 67.