Jamestown, N.D. – The (RV) University of Jamestown women's volleyball team got big wins in sets one and two but could not replicate their success in their next three tries as they were reverse swept by Northern State University Thursday night at Harold Newman Arena.
Jamestown falls to 10-3 after back-to-back NSIC losses puts them at 3-2 in the conference. The Wolves improve to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in the Northern Sun.
In set one, the Jimmies fell behind by a score of 5-1, but battled their way back into it in front of the home crowd. Three straight points and a kill by
Kallyn Grove gave UJ its first lead at 10-9. Just after this, the Jimmies went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead 15-10 thanks to four attacking errors from the Northern State side.
The Wolves got the set to within two points at one point, 19-17, but Jamestown responded with four unanswered scores with
Kyleigh Schopp involved with two block assists and a kill.
Gracie Adamson put the first set away 25-22 as the Jimmies got a key win.
Jamestown only hit .105 (10-6-38) but held the top attacking team in the NSIC to -.049 (10-12-41). The Wolves also killed themselves with four service errors in the set.
The second set began at five points apiece, but then UJ got ahead 12-5 after a 7-0 run. Lempka had a couple of block assists early in this spurt, then Grove, Schopp, and
Mya Foslien all had consecutive kills with Jamestown controlling a 7-point advantage.
Neither team ever went on another key scoring run after this, with the visitors failing to mount a comeback.
Caroline Puetz had a kill late, then an attacking error sealed the Wolves fate with a 25-22 UJ victory in set number two.
Attacking was much better in the second set on each side with the Jimmies at .278 (13-3-36) and Northern State at .231 (16-7-39). Jamestown had two service aces and three blocks in set two while holding the Wolves to nothing in either of those categories.
The third set you could say was nearly the opposite of the second. The game was tied up early on, but this time the Wolves had an early run to grab a lead which they held onto the rest of the set. Despite a pair of late kills from
Charlotte Lempka, the Jimmies could not get out of the hole they got into early in the set, falling 25-22 with Northern State staying alive.
Jamestown attacked .222 (14-4-45) while the Wolves continued to get better, registering .244 (17-6-45) in their first set victory.
Everything was going right for Jamestown to begin the fourth set. Seven straight points very early in the set made the score 9-2. Schopp was involved in two of these points with a block assist and a kill. However, the Wolves had a big response after burning a timeout. They scored eight straight points to pull ahead 11-10 as the Jimmies had a battle on their hands once again.
The two travel partners had back-and-forth seesaw action with several ties and lead changes sprinkled into the rest of the set. UJ trailed 23-21, but Lempka slammed home a kill, then an attack error tied it up at 23. However, the Wolves got two straight points from a kill and a service ace that sent the contest to a fifth set.
The Wolves attacked much better than the Jimmies in the fourth set at .231 (13-4-39) to Jamestown's .136 (14-8-44). Northern State had three service aces as well.
Puetz and Adamson had a couple kills each early in the fifth set with both teams owning a couple of leads, but neither getting that break-through run they needed. Foslien was responsible for the 11
th and 12
th Jamestown points as she added to her kill total with the score knotted up 12-12.
This kill by Foslien, however, was the final Jamestown point of the night. A block, followed by two kills on the visiting side, sunk the Jimmies as they dropped the final three sets at home to the Wolves.
Adamson had her best match in NSIC play with 17 kills, 15 digs, and two blocks while attacking a solid .232 (17-4-56). Lempka, Foslien, and Schopp all had 10 kills to put four Jimmies in double figures for that category. Schopp's 10 kills were a career-high and she added five blocks in addition to that.
Sophie Ketterling had 29 digs, tying a career-best while
Ava Bertsch led the Jamestown setting with 25 assists.
Total attacking percentages for the match were won by Northern State .182 (66-30-198) to .172 (60-26-198). The Wolves had a few more aces (7-4), assists (60-55), and digs (91-89) also.
Jamestown will look to get back on track on Saturday, September 26 for their first in-state battle when they play at Minot State at 2 p.m.
