Bismarck, N.D. – The University of Jamestown women's volleyball team won a four-set decision over the University of Mary Tuesday evening to go 2-0 on their North Dakota road trip.
Two straight victories puts Jamestown at 12-3 overall and 5-2 in the NSIC. After the loss, the Marauders drop to 4-11 with a 2-5 mark in conference play.
Caroline Puetz,
Charlotte Lempka, and
Mya Foslien all had kills early with Jamestown pushing ahead 4-0 in the first set.
Momoka Minamiya had an ace sprinkled in as well. UMary cut it to one point, but the Jimmies used two kills by Lempka to push ahead 12-8 again and force the Marauders to use a timeout. A 4-0 run a bit later put the Jimmies in front 16-10 after a powerful kill up the middle from Lempka, then another service ace by Minamiya.
Late in the set, the Maraduers had no answers for the Jimmies. The lead only grew from that point on with the UJ ahead 20-12, then closing the set with their largest lead at 25-16.
Attacking on the Jamestown side was at a premium at .500 (13-2-22) while the Marauders were held to just .133 (10-6-30) despite no blocks in the set from UJ. The Jimmies played service error-less volleyball while the Marauders were guilty of that three times in the first set.
UJ and UMary went at it and traded points to begin the second set. Four different Jimmies had kills to make the contest 7-6 in their favor. However, things fell apart for a moment for the Orange and Black, particularly on the serve receive. The Marauders earned seven of the next eight points to push ahead 13-8.
Later when the set was 17-14 in favor of the home team, UMary blew it open with six straight points to take a 23-14 lead. Puetz had a couple of kills when the Maraduers were at set point, but a kill from UMary closed the second set 25-18 as the Marauders tied the match.
The Jimmies attacked well again in the second set at .333 (10-1-27), but UMary logged a .484 percentage (18-3-31). Four service aces and two service errors by the Jimmies helped the Marauders as well.
The third set began with a score of 5-5 with Jamestown getting kills from
Gracie Adamson and Grove early on. However, the wheels fell off the bus for a time for the Jimmies after this, and UMary built a 10-5 advantage with five straight points.
The Jimmies had a nice response after head coach
Jon Hegerle took a timeout, getting 11 of the next 13 points. This run put the Jimmies ahead 16-12. The Marauders took the next three points, but it was all Jamestown after that. An Adamson kill commenced a 6-1 run that made the set 22-16. Later, three straight kills from Lempka, Grove, and Foslien put the third set away, 25-18 with the Jimmies getting a big victory in comeback fashion.
The Jimmies at one of the best blocking teams in the NSIC, had five in the third set, in large part contributing to an -.088 attacking percentage (8-11-34) on the home side. UJ attacked .184 (12-5-38).
Jamestown was clicking on all cylinders to being the fourth set. Three kills on three attempts from Adamson,
Addison Ertz, and Puetz led the Jimmies to an early 6-1 advantage. The two I-94 rivals traded points for a while until five straight points from four UJ attacking errors cut the Jamestown lead down to one, 13-12.
The fourth set stayed within a few points for a moment, with the Jimmies always leading, inching closer to their set victory. With the score at 19-17, Jamestown took the reins with a 6-1 run to end the set and the match. Grove and Lempka pitched in two kills each and Adamson slammed the match-point home with UJ winning set four 25-18 to take down UMary away from home.
Lempka paced the Jimmies with 13 kills, attacking .458 (13-2-24) while adding two blocks as well. Adamson finished with her third-straight double-double on 11 kills and a team-high 16 digs. Grove, Puetz, and Schopp all recorded eight kills with Schopp leading the team with four blocks. NSIC digs-per-set leader
Sophie Ketterling posted 15 digs as well as two service aces while Minamiya had 11 digs and three service aces. Both setters,
Ava Bertsch and
Kate Wiebesiek combined for 45 assists with Bertsch at 25 and Wiebesiek at 20.
On the evening, Jamestown hit .290 (55-17-131) which was their second-best mark in NSIC play so far. The Marauders posted a .155 attacking percentage (43-23-129). The Jimmies had a few more digs (57-51), but UMary had more service aces (9-6), and blocks (8-6).
UJ will take their 2-game win streak back to Harold Newman Arena for Parents' Weekend where they will host Augustana University on Friday, October 2, then No. 2 Wayne State College on Saturday, October 3.
