After watching the IAAM C Conference championship go into five games, the JC women’s volleyball team was ready to take the court. They played for the B Conference Championship against archrival Maryvale. The Patriots were 2-0 against the Lions in the regular season.

The first game was close. It was so close, in fact, that it had to go into extra points. However, Maryvale was able to pull it out and take the game 27-25.

JC jumped out to a huge lead in the second set, but poor serving allowed Maryvale to claw their way back into it. The Lions won the second game also, 25-23.

JC had to face the reality of trailing by two games in a best of five matches. The team responded well, however, pulling out the third game by the score of 25-22.

JC continued their comeback run, taking the fourth game 27-25. The Patriots won the game point before taking Maryvale to the fifth and final game.

The fifth and final game in volleyball is played to 15 points.. The game went back and forth until JC took a 14-10 lead on junior Alissa Buettner’s serve. Maryvale had one last serve, but senior captain Taylor Schafer slammed home the final kill. JC won the game, 15-11, as well as the championship.

This was the girls’ second straight championship victory. Senior captain Nicole Wagner led the team with 20 kills. Schafer contributed 11 kills and 4 aces. Senior captain Jenny Hottle had 8 kills, and sophomore Elise Adamson had four kills. Freshman Brianna Lockhart added 4 aces and assisted 35 kills.

On Maryvale’s side, senior Morgan Jenkins led the team with 18 kills and senior Sarah Koch had 13.

The Patriots’ coach, Greg Cullison, was all smiles after the match. “It feels great [getting a second straight championship]. You’re the team to beat, so it’s tougher,” he said.

Cullison did criticize the team in one area: serving. The team combined for 17 aces, but they also combined for 19 serving errors. “We were trying to serve tough, but we didn’t do a great job with it,” he said.

Schafer gave credit to the entire team for the win. “We were down two games to none. I give credit to everyone for stepping up. Even though I had the winning kill, it could’ve just been any kill. It was a team effort,” she said.

Hottle was excited to be on the championship team two years running. “At this time last year, I honestly didn’t think we stood a chance. But then we brought in a new setter [Lockhart], and the girls who moved up from JV really stepped up. I’m so proud of everyone, and winning the championship again felt great,” she said.

Admission to the game was $7.00, but as JC fan Mike Jeddry said, “It was worth every penny.”

Brian Reid can be reached for comment at [email protected].