St. Paul, Minn. - A career-high 20 kills by Gracie Adamson were not quite enough as the University of Jamestown women's volleyball team lost in four extremely competitive sets to No. 7 Concordia St. Paul Saturday evening at the Gangelhoff Center.
The 1-1 weekend moves the Jimmies to 15-8 overall with an 8-7 conference record. The Bears improve to 18-5 and 13-2 in the NSIC.
The Jimmies trailed early in the first set, 7-6, but then Adamson took the reins with the serve. With Adamson's newly restructured serve, it took CSP a while – 4 points in fact – to figure it out. Four straight aces by the South Dakota native gave Jamestown a 10-7 advantage.
A bit later, five straight points from the Jimmies, backed by a kill plus a block from Charlotte Lempka put the seventh-ranked team in the country in a 17-9 deficit. CSP began to wake up after this, but the Jimmies prevailed. It was 20-17, then 23-21, and 24-23, but Addison Ertz buried a timely kill to give UJ a huge 25-23 win in the first set.
Five service aces and three blocks pushed the Jimmies to a first-set victory as CSP attacked better (.224-.182) and had over twice as many kills as Jamestown (19-9).
The Bears looked a bit more like themselves in the second set as they went ahead 10-4 early which put UJ into the biggest hole they had faced all match. The Jimmies never allowed the Bears to get out ahead any more than this though, and they got it to within three a couple of times during the middle section of the second set.
A little 3-0 run consisting of two kills by Ertz and one from Lempka made the set 20-17. Later, Lempka had another kill and Caroline Puetz put one down as well to make the contest 22-20. However, the only point the Jimmies got after this was off a service error, and CSP survived the second set to win 25-21.
There were much fewer attacking errors in the second set with the Jimmies percentage at .310 (16-3-42) while the Bears were nearly .500 at .472 (19-2-36).
It was 6-2 early for the home side in the third set, but a 5-1 run highlighted by two kills slammed home by Adamson tied the set 7-7. Although, CSP got back out ahead 13-9.
The Jimmies rolled after this, going on an 8-3 run to pull ahead 17-16 for their first lead of the set. Ertz and Adamson led the way in this run with two kills each. The Orange and Black led 20-19, but three straight points by Concordia St. Paul pushed the Bears ahead 22-20.
It came to set point for CSP at 24-22, but Puetz and Adamson kept Jamestown's hopes alive with kills to tie it at 24. However, two straight points by the Bears gave them the clutch win 26-24 in extra points as the Jimmies now trailed 2-1 in the match.
CSP gifted the Jimmies six service errors in the third set but compensated for that with three aces and three blocks. Attacking percentages in the set were .333 (18-4-42) for Concordia St. Paul and .263 (13-3-38) for UJ.
Jamestown could not find their groove once again to start the fourth set as they fell behind 8-4. Following this however, nine of the next 11 points belonged to the Jimmies as they pushed ahead 13-10. Ertz accumulated two more kills to add to her already fantastique night.
The see-saw action started right after this, with UJ holding a slight lead but never by more than a few points. Adamson had four kills as part of the next 11 Jamestown points as the Jimmies got to set point, 24-22, following a CSP service error. The Bears, though, scored two straight to send the set into extra points once again.
A powerful kill from Adamson made it 25-24, but the Jimmies could not finish the set off. Two kills from the home side plus a service ace gave the Bears the match with a 27-25 win in the fourth set.
Four service errors hurt the Jimmies in the fourth set loss despite their attacking percentage at a solid .220 (17-6-50). Concordia St. Paul posted a .267 (16-4-45) hitting percentage in the fourth set.
Adamson slammed home a career-high 20 kills in the loss as well as adding 11 digs and four service aces. She got good value of her 46 swings with a .326 (20-5-46) attacking percentage. Lempka and Ertz both posted 11 kills with Lempka attacking .370 (11-1-27) and adding three blocks.
The Jimmies were .244 (55-15-164) overall attacking wise while CSP sat at .312 (72-18-173) for the evening. Jamestown slightly won aces (7-6) and blocks (8-6) though the Bears had quite a few more digs (81-69).
UJ will return home for a three-match homestand, beginning with a mid-week matchup on Tuesday, October 27 at 6 p.m. where they will host Faculty Appreciation Night against the University of Mary.
