Minot, N.D. – The (RV) University of Jamestown women's volleyball team took care of business as they beat the Minot State Beavers in straight sets Saturday afternoon at the Minot State Dome.
Jamestown got back to its winning ways and is now 11-3 overall with a 4-2 NSIC record. The Beavers drop to 3-11 overall and still searching for their first conference victory.
Despite a three-point deficit early,
Gracie Adamson sparked a 4-0 Jamestown run with two kills and a block assist as the Jimmies got out in front 5-4. Later in the set, Minot State began to block UJ attackers like crazy, going on an 8-1 run and pulling ahead 16-10. In danger of the losing the first set, Jamestown responded a bit later with a 7-1 run where
Kallyn Grove and
Kyleigh Schopp combined for five kills and the Jimmies tied it up at 18-18.
The set came to 24-23 in favor of the home team, but Schopp and Adamson came in clutch when Jamestown needed them to. Bertsch connected with Schopp for a kill, then Schopp and Adamson blocked a Beavers attack. With a 25-24 lead now, Adamson nailed down a kill for the 26
th point as UJ scored three unanswered to win set one by a score of 26-24.
Attacking percentages in set one were .222 (21-9-54) for Jamestown and .180 (13-4-50) for Minot State. The Jimmies committed two service errors and were blocked on five occasions which nearly proved costly.
UJ got ahead 6-3 in the second set with
Caroline Puetz getting a kill and two block assists early in the set. However, Minot State got the set in their favor 10-8 not longer after with a solid run.
The two North Dakota teams were neck-and-neck the rest of the way. The set was tied at 21, but
Charlotte Lempka had two kills and Adamson one as part of three-straight points to put UJ in control 24-21. The Beavers got two kills, but Lempka added her fourth kill of the set as the 25
th point and Jamestown got ahead 2-0 in the match after a couple of 2-point wins in the first and second sets.
The Jimmies had their worst attacking set in the match at .172 (17-7-58) while the Beavers hit .135 (14-7-52).
UJ had their most complete performance in the third set which they never trailed. A service error gave Jamestown a 10-5 advantage, and then a kill from Adamson got the Jimmies up to a 6-point lead.
Minot State got back to within three, but Jamestown later earned four of five points backed by kills from Schopp and Lempka put the Jimmies up six again, 18-12. Later when the score was 22-18, Adamson notched a kill, then two attacking errors finished the set with UJ's largest lead of the match at 25-18.
Adamson paced the Jimmies with team-best 12 kills and her 16 digs being only behind
Sophie Ketterling. Lempka and Schopp had eight kills apiece with both being highly efficient, attacking .389 (8-1-18) and .375 (8-2-16), respectively. Lempka had a career-high in blocks with seven block assists and Puetz posted seven blocks as well. Ketterling increased her already impressive digs per set average with the senior digging 22 balls (7.3 per set).
Kate Wiebesiek and
Ava Bertsch both posted double-doubles with Bertsch at 20 assists and 10 digs and Wiebesiek registering 17 assists and 10 digs.
Jamestown attacked .197 (48-20-142) for the match, holding the Beavers to .124 (38-20-145). Boths teams had 10 blocks, and Jamestown had 77 digs to Minot State's 70. 77 digs were tied for the most in a three-set match this season so far for Jamestown.
The Jimmies will have an early-week contest up next as they head 100 miles west to play the University of Mary on Tuesday, September 29 at 6 p.m.
