Duluth, Minn. – The (RV) University of Jamestown women's volleyball team suffered their first defeat in NSIC play as they were swept by the No. 23 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.
Jamestown drops to 10-2 and 3-1 in the NSIC after being swept for the first time in the season. The Bulldogs continue to roll, now getting to 4-0 in conference play and 11-1 overall.
Jamestown started the first set behind 5-1 and later gave up five straight points which made the set 13-5. The advantage for Duluth only continued to grow with the Jimmies failing to record three straight points at any time in the set.
Gracie Adamson got a couple of kills late, but UJ was unable to slow down the attacking of Duluth. The first set ended up as 25-13 in favor of the Bulldogs. Duluth hit .500 (17-3-28) and Jamestown was at .074 (8-6-27).
The Jimmies showed huge strides in the second set, pacing the Bulldogs in points early on the set. Attacking was not the same for Duluth in the second set, especially early on when they gave Jamestown a 6-1 run where they committed three straight hitting errors and
Kallyn Grove added a kill as UJ pulled ahead 10-8.
Duluth got up 14-11, but a 5-0 run from Jamestown with three Adamson kills, one from
Caroline Puetz, and an ace by
Momoka Minamiya, got the Jimmies ahead 16-14. The set turned 23-22 in favor of UJ, but Jamestown could not get it done in the clutch with three straight points from Duluth as they went up 2-0 in the match winning the second set 25-23.
The Bulldogs were held to just an .091 attacking percentage (12-8-44) but Jamestown was even worse at -.024 (8-9-41).
Much like the first set, Jamestown faced a large deficit in the third set as they fell behind 9-2. Both sides matched each other for a few more points, but then UJ earned five of the next six points to get the set at 18-15. Grove, Adamson, and
Mya Foslien all had kills in this span.
The Jimmies had a 3-0 run a bit later and got the set to 20-19. Unfortunately, this was the last time in the set Jamestown scored consecutive points. Duluth got the contest to 24-21, then put the set away 25-22 for the sweep over Jamestown.
Adamson paced the Jimmies with 10 kills. Lempka had six kills and two blocks while Grove hit .400 (5-1-10). Defensively,
Sophie Ketterling had 17 digs, and
Addison Brooke posted three blocks.
Jamestown was held to season-lows with both 30 kills and an .093 attacking percentage (30-20-107). Duluth attacked .257 (45-16-113) and also had more aces (8-5), blocks (9-7), and digs (45-43).
The Jimmies will look to rebound at home when play their travel partner, the Northern State University Wolves, on Thursday, September 24 at 6 p.m. in Harold Newman Arena.
