Jets fly by Pats

The Patriots only had control of one set Tuesday.

The other three were dominated by the Jets, whose strong serves kept Jay County out of system for most of the night.

The Jay County High School volleyball team couldn’t find a rhythm Tuesday, as the Adams Central Jets kept control for a majority of the Patriots’ 25-16, 18-25, 25-14, 25-15 loss.

“I'm a little frustrated with the girls tonight and don't think they put up a big fight tonight for those games,” JCHS coach Amy Dillon said. “I just really honestly felt like mentally our girls just weren't really here tonight. I just kind of felt like they were checked out.”

The first set went back and forth for the first 19 points. With an 11-8 lead, the Patriots (5-7, 1-2 Allen County Athletic Conference) started to slip.

A pair of mistakes by Jay County began what would be a 12-point run by Adams Central (10-6, 2-0 ACAC). Along with the violations, the Jets scored points on three aces by Mati Henry, two kills from Hillary Tobias, a block from Jenna Cook and three more Jay County errors. The run only ended after the Patriots used their second timeout.

Adams Central came out the other end of the run with a 20-12 lead, and later took the set 25-16.

The second set went a lot better for the Patriots. They put together four runs of three or more points, the largest being a six-pointer that helped put together a 18-7 lead.

Mya Kunkler excelled at attacking the ball during the stretch as she racked up five kills. She added another kill and a block near the end of the set as the Patriots earned their sole win in the match 25-18.

Kunkler, in her first year at the varsity level, struggled to catch up to the speed of the game earlier in the year but has started to figure it out. She’s led JCHS in kills in two of its last three matches, including a team-high 11 Tuesday.

“In the beginning of the year it was really fast for me,” Kunkler said. “I wasn't expecting anything that fast, but I'm starting to get there on time now.

“I’m looking to find the open spot and hit there because I’m not a heavy swinger.”

Laila Waddell followed Kunkler with eight kills.

Jay County High School’s Sophie Saxman (10) and Hallie Schwieterman (1) go up for a block on Adam Central’s Maci Henry on Tuesday. The Patriots fell to the Jets 25-16, 18-25, 25-15, 25-14 for their second loss in Allen County Athletic Conference play this season. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

To start the third set, Adams Central punched Jay County with two four-point runs to develop an 8-1 lead. Five of the eight points came from Hillary Tobias and Maci Henry, who combined for 25 kills in the match.

“I thought the second set, we looked really, really good, started playing smart, started mixing some stuff up,” Dillon said. “And then I don't know what happened.”

The Jets also put together a big run early in the fourth set in which they scored seven unanswered.

After Bella Denton hit a ball too long, Tobias got the ball to serve. Over the next five serves, she aced the Patriots four times. 

The first ace was a ball that was perfectly placed in the back right corner of the court, where it was left to drop. The next one was batted around by the Patriots, but wasn’t able to be returned. The final two hit off of Jay County defenders who just couldn’t handle the return.

“We had a good team effort and everybody played a role in our win,” ACHS coach Tami Henry said. “We served tough to keep them out of system so they couldn’t use (Denton).”

While Dillon wasn’t pleased with the overall performance of the Patriots in the match, she made a change that she was fond of and will likely continue to implement going forward.

That change was moving Brenna Haines from the left corner of the back row to the middle.

“I really liked that I moved her to the middle back,” Dillon said. “She asked at the beginning of the game, ‘Am I gonna have to stay here?’ I said, ‘Do you know how many balls you dug back there tonight that we don't normally pick up?’”

Haines finished with a team-high 26 digs in the match.

Junior varsity

The JV team managed to defeat the Jets 25-14, 25-14.

Lydia Johnson had a team-high five kills in the match.

The most points came when Carley Trinidad was serving. She finished with 11 points, three of which were aces.

Junior High

The Jay County Junior High volleyball team suffered their first loss to Adams Central Middle School 25-22, 21-21, 15-9.

Brenna Ruble had the most points with nine, as well as three aces, three digs and one kill.

Gabi Petro led the defensive effort for the Patriots (7-1). She had eight digs. 

Amelia Heath led the attack at the net with three kills and three blocks.