Winona, Minn. – The University of Jamestown women's volleyball team will look to get back on track on the road with matches at Winona State and Concordia St. Paul this upcoming weekend.
Game Information (Winona St)
UJ will head into their second-to-last NSIC road weekend with a record of 14-7 overall and a 7-6 conference record as they look to rebound from a tough stretch in which they have dropped four of their past five matches. In the Northern Sun, they are right inside the conference playoff bubble holding a share of seventh place with Augustana. Bemidji State and Minnesota State are just one game behind with both those teams at 6-7 in the conference.
The Jimmies recently suffered an 0-2 weekend at home where they lost in four sets to both Minnesota State and No. 13 St. Cloud State. Their last match was against the Huskies where Jamestown lost the first two sets 25-22 and 25-15, dominated the third set to win 25-15, but then dropped a tight fourth set 25-23.
Kyleigh Schopp was the star of the show for the Jimmies, posting a career-best 10 blocks to go along with seven kills and three service aces. Schopp joined Ella Walker out of Sioux Falls as the only players in the Northern Sun to record double-digit blocks in the game. As a team, UJ recorded 15 blocks which was the most in a single match since the 2023 season. Charlotte Lempka led the team with nine kills while Sophie Ketterling logged 22 digs.
Gracie Adamson leads the Jimmies in kill with 3.27 per set at 245 over the course of the season. The senior from Brookings, S.D. is also second on the team and ninth in the NSIC with 3.49 digs per set. Right behind Adamson in kills is Charlotte Lempka with a set average of 2.32 kills as well as a team high .330 (174-52-370) attacking percentage.
The defense for Jamestown has been their calling card all season long as they currently rank third in the conference in blocks per set (2.24), third in digs per set (17.24), and second in opponent attacking percentage (.171).
After her 10-block performance against SCSU and the 16-block weekend, Schopp is now on the podium of the NSIC in blocks per set at 1.19, a number which places her 17th nationally. Caroline Puetz is 10th in the Northern Sun with 0.94 per set and 95 total. Sophie Ketterling is first in the Northern Sun with 5.36 digs per set as the senior libero leads the backline defense. The two-time NSIC Defensive Player of the Week currently sits 10th in Division-II volleyball in this category.
It has been a bit of a struggle for Winona State's volleyball team this season with their record at 5-14 overall and 4-9 in the conference after three-straight above .500 seasons in the NSIC from 2023-25. They have quite a bit of work to do to get back into the playoff hunt with a record that currently ties them for 11th place and three games out of the top eight cut line.
However, the Warriors have won three of their past four matches, including a 2-0 road weekend in their most recent outings against Minot State and UMary.
Last time out against the Marauders, the Warriors took sets one and two with scores of 26-24 and 25-22, dropped the next two sets 25-14 and 26-24, but won the match in extra points in set five with a score of 19-17.
Three Warriors recorded double-digit kills with Zoe Haan and Abby Ongna each getting 14 and Maddie Brown adding 13 with an attacking percentage of .346 (13-4-26). Haan also posted 14 digs while Lily Shields led the backline with 20 digs. Sylvia Marlock registered 25 set assists and 4 service aces while the other Winona State setter, Hailee Peters, posted eight kills, 21 assists, and 14 digs.
The Warriors marginally scraped by despite UMary having a higher attacking percentage (.217-.171), more kills (66-63), aces (9-7), and blocks (13-8).
In 2025, Winona State went 16-12 and 11-9 in the conference, being the first team outside of the playoffs as they finished in a tie for seventh with Northern State and Minnesota Duluth, but lost the tiebreaker to both those colleges, leaving them without a postseason appearance.
Abby Ongna is the top attacker on the team with 3.41 kills per set which ranks seventh in the NSIC. The junior from Marshfield, Wis. has attacked .242 (232-92-578) for the season. Haan is right behind Ongna at 2.92 kills per set. Peters is averaging 6.75 assists per set, 2.19 digs per set, and 21 service aces which ranks atop the team.
Defensively, Liv Myhre and Sophia Armstrong are averaging 0.79 and 0.76 blocks per set which ranks first and second on the team. Libero Shields leads the team with 3.15 digs per set and 214 on the season.
The second opponent of the weekend will be No. 7 Concordia St. Paul who will be in action against Northern State Friday before hosting the Jimmies the following day. With their record of 16-5 overall and 11-2 in the conference, the Bears are tied with Southwest Minnesota State for second place in the NSIC.
The Bears are coming off a mid-week road loss Tuesday to No. 15 St. Cloud State in which they dropped the first two sets 25-18, won big in the third set 25-12, but then lost the fourth set 25-22. Makenna Nold logged her 11th double-double of the season with 18 kills and 11 digs while Kelsey Cooper finished with 12 kills, three blocks, and a team best .385 attacking percentage (12-2-26). Reagan Hickey got 24 set assists and seven digs while Abby Rolbiecki anchored the backline with 14 digs.
Concordia St. Paul has been built into one of the best D-II programs under 23rd year head coach Brad Starkey. The Bears have won nine D-II National Championships in Starkey's tenure with the most recent coming in 2017. While it has now been eight years since their last championship, CSP has continued to win at an extremely high clip.
Last season was arguably their best since their national championship season of 2017. In 2025, the Bears wer 31-6 overall and 19-1 in the NSIC. They were the regular season champions but lost to SCSU in the NSIC Championship.
CSP earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Central Region as an at-large team and went on to win the Regional Championship after wins over Central Oklahoma, Washburn, and SCSU. With only eight teams left in the field, the Bears beat Gannon in four sets, then Point Loma Nazarene in the Final Four. Concordia St. Paul fell just short of their 10th national championship as they lost to MSU Denver in four sets in the National Championship. In the 2026 NSIC Volleyball Coaches' Preseason Poll, 13 of 16 head coaches in the conference selected CSP to win the conference with the Bears slotting in first in the poll. In addition, Concordia St. Paul was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the AVCA Volleyball Preseason Poll.
The Bears slot in as one of the top teams in the NSIC in just about every category, and their offensive prowess is paced by three key hitters in Makenna Nold, Mehlayna Straub, and Kelsey Cooper. Nold, the 2025 AVCA Division II Volleyball Player of the Year, has posted four 20-kills matches and currently ranks third in the NSIC in kills per set at 3.73 in addition to her .269 attacking percentage (310-105-761), 34 service aces, and 2.8 digs per set. Behind Nold are Mehlayna Straub and Kelsey Cooper, who average 2.7 and 2.61 kills per set, respectively. Straub is fourth in the NSIC with a .382 attacking percentage (224-48-461) and seventh with an average of one block per set. Cooper hits well also with an attacking percentage of .344 (214-49-474).
On the defensive side of the ball, Kaelyn Snoozy leads the team with 2.89 digs per set while setting wise Audrey Waterman paces the Bears with 6.01 assists per set.
Jamestown and CSP clashed twice in NSIC play last season, both of which resulted in 3-0 losses for the Jimmies against the eventual National Runners Up.
The first match in St. Paul was not pretty with the Jimmies losing the sets 25-13, 25-12, and 25-11. The Jamestown attacking percentage in the match was below zero while CSP attacked .372 (37-5-86). Momoka Minamiya had 13 digs in the loss.
The second match was a bit improved for UJ in the home match, though they still dropped in three sets with the scores at 25-16, 25-22, and 25-18. Jamestown attacked a much better .149 (33-16-144) mark and held CSP to a reduced .284 (49-16-116) from their last match. Adamson and Puetz reached had six kills while Minamiya logged 18 digs.
Head coach Jon Hegerle played CSP twice before as the Jamestown head coach, that being a long time ago where he beat the Bears in 2009 in straight sets before falling in three sets in 2010.
Jamestown also played Winona State twice in the 2025 season and both losses for the Jimmies. In the first match down in Winona, the Jimmies dominated the first set 25-16 but dropped the next three. Jamestown attacked .250 (14-4-40) in the first set but was sub .160 for the rest of the three sets. Corbyn Menz had a great game with 12 kills and 16 digs.
In the second match in Jamestown the Jimmies struggled on Halloween night with three straight set losses to the Warriors at 25-19, 25-17, and 25-14. Total attacking numbers in that game were .287 (36-9-94) for Winona State and .144 (36-21-104) for UJ. Addison Brooke posted nine kills and Minamaya digged 10 balls in the loss.
Team Stats (entering weekend)
After the matches in Southeastern Minnesota, the Jimmies will return to Harold Newman Arena for a three-match homestand, beginning with a Tuesday night contest against UMary on October 27 at 6 p.m.
