Crookston, Minn. – The University of Jamestown women's volleyball will team pay a trip to Northeastern Minnesota for their final regular season weekend where they will play the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday and then Minnesota State University Moorhead on Saturday.
Game Information (Crookston)
Game Information (Moorhead)
The Teams
The Jimmies come into today's game with a record 17-9 overall and 10-8 in the Northern Sun with two regular season matches left to play. UJ is currently alone in eighth place in the conference, holding down the final playoff spot. One more win by the Jimmies, or one more loss by Minnesota State University will clinch a spot for Jamestown in the NSIC Tournament.
In seventh place is Augustana University who with their 11-7 record, is currently one game ahead of Jamestown. The Vikings play Winona State University and Concordia University St. Paul this upcoming weekend.
Most recently, Jamestown wrapped up a 2-1 week in which they swept both the University of Mary and Bemidji State University but lost in four sets to No. 19 Minnesota Duluth. In their last contest, the Jimmies beat Bemidji State with set scores of 25-17, 25-21, and 25-14 in what was their second win over the Beavers in 2026 on senior day.
Gracie Adamson had a nice performance on her senior day which consisted of 12 kills, 14 digs, and three blocks.
Addison Ertz had nine kills and
Charlotte Lempka posted eight.
Ava Bertsch led the setting with 22 assists and
Sophie Ketterling had a huge defensive match with 28 digs (9.3 per set), just two shy of tying a career high.
Team attacking across the last two weeks has been greatly improved for UJ. After a couple of decent attacking matches against Winona State and CSP two weeks ago, against UMary, the Jimmies hit .323 (40-9-96) which was their second-best mark in NSIC play. Then versus Bemidji State, the Jimmies attacked a very strong .278 (47-15-115) and held BSU to just .087 (32-21-127).
Adamson had nine kills against UMary, a career-high 22 kills against Minnesota Duluth, and then 12 versus Bemidji State. This led the South Dakota native to an average of 4.3 kills per set to top all NSIC players during the three-match week. On the season, she ranks seventh in the conference in kills per set (3.46) and 10
th in digs per set (3.47).
Lempka had a great attacking week as well which has pushed her season stats to a .349 (233-64-484) attacking percentage to place herself ninth in the Northern Sun. The Alexandria, Minn. native is second on the team with 2.51 kills per set. While she does not have enough sets played to qualify, Ertz has been efficient when on the court with an average of 2.55 kills per set across 38 sets played so far.
The Jimmies have been on top of their game with their defensive numbers ranking as some of the best in the conference. Opponent hitting percentage ranks second (.173), blocks per set rank second (2.26), and digs per set rank third (17.2).
Kyleigh Schopp leads the Jimmies and the NSIC in the blocks department with a set average of 1.19, a number which slots her in 20
th nationally.
Caroline Puetz (0.92) and Lempka (0.91) are also high on this list as ninth, and 10
th in the conference, respectively. For digs, Ketterling leads the pack, now at 5.54 after she boosted that number against Bemidji State in Jamestown's most recent outing. Not only does the North Dakota native lead the NSIC in this category, but she is also eighth in Division-II volleyball.
The first opponent of the weekend the Jimmies will face is the struggling Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles, who are 3-23 overall, 1-17 in the NSIC, and on a 14-match losing streak. In their most recent contests, UMC lost in three sets to both Minot State and UMary over the weekend.
On Halloween afternoon against the Marauders, the Golden Eagles fell by set scores of 25-22 in each of the first two sets and then 25-19 in the third set. Madison Carsten and Lexi Scharold had 10 kills apiece for Crookston with Carsten also finishing with a team-best 16 digs and Scharold attacking .389 (10-3-18) with three blocks as well. Carizma Muth added four service aces plus eight digs and Emma Lalek posted seven block assists.
UMC had a few more aces (8-5) and blocks (7-4) than UMary, but allowed the Marauders to attack .307 (49-14-114) while they themselves were at .175 (36-16-114).
Carston is the best player for the Golden Eagles as she leads the team in kills (2.95 per set) and digs (3.28 per set). Scharold is the only other UMC player to average more than a couple of kills per set at 2.05 while leading Crookston in total blocks (55) and blocks per set (0.65). Ellery Ehresmann commands the setting with an average of 5.22 assists per set while also averaging 1.78 digs per set. Muth is only behind Carsten in digs with a set average of 2.12.
The final game of the regular season will be against the MSU Moorhead Dragons. With their 14-13 overall record and 7-11 conference mark, MSUM has no hopes for the conference playoffs, but is currently riding a three-match win streak, including a big upset on the road against Minnesota Duluth two Tuesdays ago. Moorhead will host Northern State University on Friday before their final match of the season versus the Jimmies Saturday.
The Dragons played the other two North Dakota teams last weekend with a 3-0 sweep over UMary and a 3-1 victory against Minot State their last time out. Versus the Beavers, Moorhead won the first set 25-21, lost the second 27-25, but won the final two sets 25-22 and 25-15.
Senior outside hitter Maci Martini had a staggering 39 digs which was a career-best and also got her 1000
th dig in the contest. Leah Laqua finished with 12 kills on .370 (12-2-27) attacking while Raiah Mandell added 10 kills. Mya Pfeifer posted nine kills and eight blocks, Miracle Jensen had 22 digs, and Madi Colby orchestrated the offense with 31 assists.
Attacking percentages in the contest where rough on both ends with Moorhead at .107 (54-31-214) and Minot State with a .037 (38-30-216) percentage. This led to some monster dig numbers in the contest at 131 for the Dragons and 121 for the Beavers. MSUM also won various other categories including aces (6-5), blocks (11-10), and assists (52-35).
The Dragons rank inside the middle of the pack in the NSIC in the majority of offensive and defensive categories. While there are no players that stand out in terms of NSIC leaders, the Dragons have a balanced offense that includes four players averaging at least two kills per set. Mandell is on top of this list with a 2.76 kills per set average as well as a .289 (279-96-634) attacking percentage. Not included in this top four is Mya Pfeifer who leads Moorhead hitting .309 (155-43-363).
Defensively, Pfeifer also paces the Dragons with 76 total blocks and an average of 0.90 blocks per set. Blocking has been one of the strengths for MSUM this season, as they rank sixth in the Northern Sun in that category (2.01 per set). Martini has been busy keeping plays alive with a set average of 3.5 digs to rank ninth in the Northern Sun in addition to her 2.35 kills per set.
Last Time Out
Both Moorhead and Crookston came into Harold Newman Arena last weekend, resulting in successful wins for the Jimmies in what was their first two matches of NSIC play.
Jamestown played Moorhead first in the back-to-back, getting roughed up in the first set 25-15, but recovering with set wins of 25-23, 25-15, and 25-22. Adamson had one of her best matches of the year with 16 kills and 20 digs. Lempka added nine kills and
Mya Foslien finished with eight.
Kate Wiebesiek had a nice match with 17 assists and nine digs while Ketterling was plenty busy on the backline with 24 digs.
The Dragons out-hit the Jimmies at .127 (48-28-157) to Jamestown's .105 (47-29-171). MSUM also beat the Jimmies in blocks (14-11), assists (46-43), and digs (82-73).
The second half of the home weekend saw much more dominant success from UJ as they went to 2-0 in the NSIC after a three-set sweep of Minnesota Crookston. Set scores were 25-10 for both of the first two sets and then 25-19 to finish things off.
Versus the Golden Eagles, the Jimmies had a balanced attack consisting of five players with at least five kills led by Adamson with seven. Lempka posted a nice .667 (6-0-9) attacking percentage on just nine swings while Puetz logged six kills and four blocks. Ketterling had 13 digs and
Ava Bertsch notched 18 set assists.
The Jamestown .326 (33-5-86) attacking percentage was their highest of the season at the time, and the second-highest only behind Sioux Falls (.376) on October 10. Five attacking errors was a season-low and UJ held the Golden Eagles to hit just .021 (27-25-94).
Team Stats (entering weekend)
|
Jamestown |
Minnesota Crookston |
MSU Moorhead |
| Record |
17-9, 10-8 NSIC |
3-23, 1-17 NSIC |
14-13, 7-11 NSIC |
| NSIC Standings Position |
8th |
T-15th |
11th |
| Kills / Set |
13.1 |
10.4 |
12.8 |
| Attacking Pct. |
.208 |
.149 |
.226 |
| Assists / Set |
12 |
9.4 |
11.8 |
| Digs / Set |
17.2 |
13.3 |
15.9 |
| Aces / Set |
1.6 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
| Blocks / Set |
2.3 |
1.4 |
2 |
After the weekend, the Jimmies will await to see results around the conference to see if they earn a spot in the NSIC tournament. The quarterfinal round is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10 at the sites of the No. 1 – No. 4 seeds, with the semifinals and championship the next weekend, November 13 – 15.
