Jena Medearis combines strength, grace and overall sheer athleticism as well as any Nixa athlete in any sport. While attacking at the net, she’s in her element and obviously doing what she was born to do.
The middle blocker was overwhelming at times Tuesday in Nixa’s 25-14, 25-15, 25-21 victory versus Ozark. She posted 11 kills with a .458 kill percentage.
“That was fun to watch and awesome to coach,” coach Annie Zimmerman said. “The athleticism she showed tonight was awesome. I’m so happy for Jena to have a performance like that.”
Medearis can be a treat for her coach and teammates to watch when she is at the net and a delight for them, as well, due to the laughter she produces when she is elsewhere, particularly in the back row.
Admittedly, Medearis isn’t quite so elegant after she serves and is forced to be in position to pass.
“In the back row, I stumble around because I’m not familiar with that area,” Medearis said. “Sometimes, I trip over air because I don’t know what I’m doing. I think it’s mental and I’m worried that I don’t know where to go. I get very unsure of myself and hesitant. My brain thinks one thing and my body does another. That’s when I stumble over myself.”
Any tension in practices is usually broken randomly by Medearis in an awkward state or by her quirkiness.
“She’s a little clumsy and bounces around a lot, that’s just her,” right-side hitter Allie Billmyer said. “It doesn’t show when she’s playing. She’s so fast on her feet. She gets in the air, will get to a ball and will put it away. But she gives us all a laugh with her facial expressions and the way she bounces off the court after she serves. She’s our quirky, awkward ‘middle’ that we have. She’s hilarious and we all love her.”
“She doesn’t take herself too seriously and laughs right along with everybody,” Zimmerman said. “I’ll take whatever I get from her for the performance she was able to have tonight.”
By sweeping Ozark, Nixa (14-1) upped its winning streak against the Lady Tigers to five matches dating back to Districts in 2018.
Medearis has been a big part of that streak, recording 11 kills and five blocks in two wins against Ozark last year during her breakout junior season. She suspected Ozark blockers might have keyed in on some her tendencies from a year ago.
“Ozark expects me to run behind (setter Sydney Golden) all the time,” Medearis said. “That’s kind of what I’m known for. They don’t expect me to run things up front. When I did both tonight, they kind of got confused. When they honed in on me in the middle, then the behind-sets opened for me. They expected me to run a lot of slides, but didn’t expect me to go run 1 and 3 (and hit from the outsides).”
Zimmerman thinks Medearis is maturing into more than simply a hitter with exceptional power.
“Spacing is the key for her. We always want her to keep enough space off the net that she has room to work around the block and not go right into it,” Zimmerman said. “She attacks the ball so hard and swing so hard. That’s where a lot of her power comes from. She’s also learning to be a smarter player and place those shots and know when she has to swing away and when she has to do something different with it.”
Like Medearis, the rest of Nixa’s hitters enjoyed a very efficient night against Ozark. The Lady Eagles totaled 48 kills in 106 attempts and were guilty of just 11 errors.
Jaycee Fixsen was her usual unstoppable self anywhere on the floor, as she netted 14 kills and three aces. Billmyer recorded a dozen kills and had a .500 kill percentage.
Meanwhile, Golden averaged 13.3 assists a set on her way to 40 assists.
Fixsen upped her career kills total to 965, as she inches closer to the 1,000-kill milestone and Aubrey Cheffey’s Nixa school record 1,168 kills. Fixsen is 15 kills shy of second-place Regan Peltier and her 980 kills.
The Lady Eagles were happy how they responded to their first loss on the season. They were swept by Lafayette over the weekend at the Co-Jesu Triangular.
“After the loss, we were like, ‘Okay, that happened. Now, we have to look forward and go on to the next game,’” Medearis said. “Our drive was definitely there tonight. We’re trying to treat every team like they’re the best team in the state and play our hearts out every time.”
“Our loss put in perspective how we need to pushing. We’re never perfect. We can always get better,” Billmyer said. “We’ll probably see (Lafayette) again in the Ozark Grand Slam Tournament in a couple weeks. We took a step back after losing to them and realized there are teams out there looking to beat us and we need to be putting in as much and time and effort as we can. It showed tonight how hard we worked at practice (Monday) and how much we want to progress.”
