Jamestown, N.D – The University of Jamestown women's volleyball team emerged victorious in front of a packed crowd at Harold Newman Arena after they reverse swept the Augustana Vikings to kick of Parents' Weekend Friday.
The win gives Jamestown three straight victories as they move to 13-3 and 6-2 in the NSIC. Augie moves to 9-7 and 3-5 in the Northern Sun.
The beginning of the first set was a tight battle between two teams looking for a key win. Neither side earned more than a three-point edge early on, but four straight points from the Jimmies backed by kills from
Kyleigh Schopp and
Ava Bertsch made the contest 14-12.
With the set later knotted at 18 points each, the Jimmies fell apart late. Augie got whatever they wanted offensively and seven of the final nine points of the set went their way, despite late kills from
Gracie Adamson and Schopp. The Vikings open their trip to Jamestown after a 25-20 set-one win.
Both teams had decent attacking percentage in the first set with Jamestown at .243 (12-3-37) and Augie at .235 (13-5-34). The Vikings had three service aces, but also four service errors and two ball-handling errors.
Adamson and Schopp slammed home two kills each in the opening stanza of the second set as Jamestown pulled ahead by four, but Augie tacked on eight straight points to push ahead 10-6. The set remained even for a while, but a 4-0 run thanks to kills by Schopp and
Caroline Puetz made the score even at 16.
Four straight points by the Vikings a bit later made the set 23-19 to put Jamestown in the danger zone but kills by
Mya Foslien and
Charlotte Lempka with Augie at set point made it 24-24, extending the match into extra points.
There were more than just a few extra points as well, with neither team able to put the other away. The set continued on and on with countless ties and lead changes. A kill by Puetz followed by a
Sophie Ketterling service ace made the set 34-33 in favor of UJ, however, the Vikings responded with three straight points, which is all you need once the score goes beyond 25. Augustana got ahead 2-0 in the match with a 36-34 set victory.
Attacking percentages were still quite high in the second set with Augie slightly outpacing Jamestown .236 (26-9-72) to .230 (21-7-61). Both sides notched four blocks, with Jamestown committing two service errors.
The Vikings held a slim advantage in the third set until Jamestown had five straight points to get the set in their favor at 10-8. Augie managed to tie it up a bit later, but the Jimmies scored seven straight points with
Momoka Minamiya serving. Two kills from Adamson and block assists from
Charlotte Lempka and
Caroline Puetz gave the Orange and Black their largest lead of the night at 18-11.
The Vikings were unable to recover after this big Jamestown run. Adamson and Schopp all had kills late, then
Kate Wiebesiek fooled the Augie defense by putting one into the corner of the court for the set point with UJ winning 25-19 in the third set.
Three blocks in the set from the Jimmies forced Augie to attack just .083 (15-11-48) in the set, by far their worst up to that point in the match. Jamestown hit .207 (10-4-29).
The Jimmies trailed for almost the entirety of the fourth set. They fell behind 7-2 early on and although they had four straight points, Augie rattled off seven in a row to push ahead 14-6.
Despite this though, the Jimmies remained competitive. After their early 7-0 run, the Vikings never scored back-to-back points the rest of the match. This allowed Jamestown to slowly chip into the lead and get themselves back into the set. With the score 22-19 Vikings, four straight points off a kill by Puetz, a kill from Lempka, and a service ace by
Ava Bertsch gave Jamestown an advantage of 23-22 for their first lead of the set. Two attack errors on Augustana a bit later led to a 2-2 match with Jamestown rallying down eight points to take set four 25-23.
Augie struggled again, attacking in the fourth set with 10 errors and a rough .039 (12-10-51) attacking percentage. The Jimmies were above .200 for the fourth time on the afternoon, this time at .220 (14-3-50). The Vikings had four service aces in set four while the Jimmies logged two blocks and did not commit a service error.
After Augie pulled ahead 4-3 in set five, seven straight points gave Jamestown complete control with a 10-4 advantage. Schopp and Adamson had two kills each in this span and the Vikings helped the Jimmies to a free point after being called out of rotation.
Schopp and Foslien blocked the Vikings for the 14
th point of the set, and though Augie made an effort with a 3-0 run after that, a bit of miscommunication off an Augustana set led to a swing into the net with Jamestown winning the final set by a score of 15-10.
On the long night, Adamson was one kill shy of a 20-20 game but still took her fourth-consecutive double-double with 19 kills and 21 digs in the performance. Foslien had a double-double as well with 10 kills and 13 digs. Up the middle, Lempka and Schopp were forces to be reckoned with. Schopp had 14 kills on .353 attacking (14-2-34) as well as six blocks while Lempka posted 12 kills, finished with a .423 attacking percentage (12-1-26) and seven blocks.
Bertsch had a career-high 31 set assists while Wiebesiek posted 18 assists and 11 digs. Both Minamiya and
Sophie Ketterling had 16 and 15 digs respectively, which put five Jimmies in double-figures in digs.
Jamestown beat the Vikings in attacking percentage pretty handily at .214 (68-22-215) to Augie's .149 (74-39-235). 68 kills was a season high for UJ, as was 61 assists and 13 team blocks. 98 digs was the second-highest, only behind 100 at Bemidji St (9/18/26).
The Jimmies will be right back at Harold Newman tomorrow, October 3 when they host No. 2 Wayne State College at 1 p.m.
