INTER-COUNTY LEAGUE South Range defeats ICL foe Jackson-Milton

The Raiders improved to 10-2 and 6-1.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH JACKSON -- Trailing 11-8 midway through Tuesday's second game, the South Range volleyball team came to life to come away with a 15-9, 15-12 win over Jackson-Milton.
The victory pulls South Range to 10-2 record overall and 6-1 in the Inter-County League.
Jackson-Milton, which beat the Raiders earlier in the season, falls to 8-4, 5-3.
"When we played them before they made more errors than us," Pat Kenney, Jackson-Milton coach, said. "Tonight, we made more than them. We played tentative and they didn't. South Range did a good job."
In game one, Jackson-Milton took early leads of 2-0 and 5-3 before a nice placement by Anna Waldelle ignited a South Range surge which saw the Raiders go up 7-5.
Jackson-Milton hung around, pulling within one on two different occasions, the latest at 9-8.
But South Range outscored the Blue Jays 6-1 the rest of the way en route to the 15-9 victory.
"I think we were kind of excited about our win in the first game," Waldelle said. "They beat us the last time.
"Tonight, though I think we were more consistent and we were concentrating more."
Good play up front and a nice effort from Jodi James helped key the final serge.
In game two, Jackson-Milton quickly went up 4-0 and led 6-1.
Turnaround: Trailing 11-8, the visitors rebounded. With Kelly James in the serving position, South Range was getting some outstanding play up front.
Using consecutive balls off the net by Tracey Toy and Amy Algeo, South Range went ahead, 12-11.
Another nice effort from Toy made it 13-11.
Even though the Bluejays regained the serve on numerous occasions, Jackson-Milton could pull no closer than 13-12.
Three consecutive hits by Crystal Schuler put the game away.
On the night, James had 11 digs, seven kills, 11 points and an ace while Schuler garnered seven points, nine digs, a block and 10 kills.
"When we play them, they are such a good passing team that it comes down to who makes the most mistakes," South Range coach T. J. Irons said.
"Even though we trailed in that second game, I wasn't getting nervous because I thought we were doing a lot of things well."