Jay advances to final

NEW CASTLE — The Patriots are one win away from a sectional title.

The Jay County High School volleyball team took down the Connersville Spartans 25-13, 25-14, 23-25, 25-17 in Saturday’s IHSAA Class 3A Sectional 24 semifinal match hosted by New Castle.

The Patriots will now face the winner of the second semifinal between Hamilton Heights and New Castle in the sectional championship match at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“We came out ready to play,” said Jay County coach Amy Dillon. “We played Connersville earlier in the season. We knew that they were a pretty decent team. I think we relaxed a little in that third set … we just needed to get focused and they found a little bit of our weak spots, so I was glad that we were able to come back through and win that.”

Jay County’s stifling defense was pivotal to isr= strong performance. The Patriots (21-10) blocked 13 Spartan (13-17) attacks, including Maria Hemmelgarn’s team-best three solo blocks and five total blocks each for Brenna Schmiesing and Mya Kunkler.

“We have a ball machine, so we’ve been working on more blocking off that and game speed balls coming over the net,” Dillon said. “And so I think that’s probably what helped us a lot, is that’s what we kind of focused on this week.”

The offense wasn’t far behind the defense for the Patriots. Jay County spread the love on its attack, with nine Patriots recording a kill and five notching six or more.

Hallie Schwieterman’s 11 led Jay County, followed closely by Hemmelgarn (10), Schmiesing (nine) and Kunkler (eight).

Now, the victorious Patriots will aim to recalibrate and continue their strong run in the final.

“It’s going to take a lot more focus,” Dillon said. “We’ve watched some film this week. We’ve sat down and studied … and we’ve tried some new things in our back pocket that we’re hoping might help us out a little bit tonight.”