Staff report

Jackson Center head volleyball coach Kim Metz has been named the MaxPreps National Small Schools Coach of the Year, it was announced recently.

Metz, who has guided her Lady Tigers to two consecutive Division 4 state championships, just completed her 29th season as head coach of the Lady Tigers. Her team finished a perfect 30-0 last season, and the Lady Tigers lost only four sets during that run, three of those coming in the first two weeks and the other in the state semifinal win over Dalton.

Between Sept. 6 and Nov. 10, the Lady Tigers won 62 consecutive sets.

In addition to Metz winning the coaching award, New Bremen junior standout Paige Jones was named to the small schools first team as an outside hitter.

She was the only Ohio player named to the first team and one of only two players from Ohio on the first, second and third teams.

Jones set two new state records this past season for the Lady Cardinals. Her 53 kills in a match against Fort Loramie on Aug. 27 is a new state single-match record, and she finished the season with 785 kills, which is a new single-season record.

A University of Michigan commit, Jones also had 48 kills in a match against Versailles, 44 against Jackson Center, and 38 against Lima Shawnee. That gives her four of the top 23 single-game kill marks in Ohio volleyball history.

She will head into her senior season later this year with 1,390 career kills, and that ranks her 23rd all-time in Ohio.

She was a first-team All-Ohio selection this past season and was named district and region player of the year after averaging 8.8 kills for the 23-4 Lady Cardinals, who lost in the regional finals to Jackson Center.

She also had 121 aces.

Her 8.8 kills per set average was the best in the nation for players who played in 50 or more sets.