SIOUX CITY, Iowa (JimmieAthletics.com) – The eighth-ranked University of Jamestown volleyball team punched its ticket to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship presented by Marriott South Sioux City Riverfront.
Jamestown (32-5) defeated No. 10 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College 18-25, 32-30, 21-25, 27-25, 15-8 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in program history. It was the seventh time this season the Jimmies have rallied to win after being down two sets to one.
UJ will face Great Plains Athletic Conference rival Northwestern (Iowa) College Friday evening at approximately 9 p.m. The third-ranked Red Raiders defeated Oklahoma City 3-1 to advance in the tournament.
Four Jimmies finished with double-figure kill totals, led by Ellie Michaletz (JR/Aitkin, Minn.) (career-high 16 kills, .455 hitting). Britta Knudson (SR/Bismarck, N.D.) (15 kills, .387 hitting), Corina Ruud (JR/Breezy Point, Minn.) (13 kills, .222 hitting), and Isabel Wedell (SR/Ellendale, N.D.) (11 kills, .250 hitting) joined Michaletz.
Jackie Meiklejohn (SO/Dickey, N.D.) (29 assists, nine digs) and Miranda Lowman (SR/Mandan, N.D.) (28 assists, 16 digs) helped UJ finish with a .229 team hitting percentage.
Sydney Ellingson (JR/Langdon, N.D.) racked up 19 digs while Anna Holen (SO/LaMoure, N.D.) (16) and Hanna Schiele (12) also reached double figures. Knudson finished with eight total blocks (one solo), while Wedell had three block assists.
Lindsey Wilson made just two attack errors while outhitting UJ .243-.214 to take a 25-18 set one victory.
The Jimmies evened the match after a wild 32-30 second set. The Blue Raiders opened up a 15-11 lead but UJ rallied with the next four points to tie the score. Lindsey Wilson had a 4-0 run to answer and went ahead 19-15, but Jamestown hung around to tie the set at 20. UJ then fell behind 24-22 only to tie things yet again following a Blue Raider service error and an ace by Lowman.
Set three was close throughout until Lindsey Wilson opened up a 20-16 lead that eventually became 23-17. UJ was outhit .341-.222 in the third while committing five attack errors.
Jamestown trailed 10-4, 14-8, and 16-11 in the fourth set, but the momentum began to shift the Jimmies’ direction. Four straight points cut the deficit to 16-15, then after a Lindsey Wilson kill, UJ rattled off three straight to go ahead 18-17. Holen and Michaletz both had four kills in the set and Knudson had seven total blocks for the Jimmies.
In set four, UJ used three separate 3-0 runs to key a 15-8 victory. Jamestown had leads of 9-6, 12-7, and 13-8 before closing out the match. Knudson had four of the Jimmies’ nine kills in the set while the defense held Lindsey Wilson to a hitting percentage of zero.