Jays Rout Mandan, Will Play for Region Title

Posted By: Ace Sauerwein
November 13, 2020 @ 9:20 am
Sports

MANDAN, N.D. (newsdakota.com) – Mandan (15-5) owned the season series against the Jamestown Blue Jays (16-4) going 2-0 during the regular season, but postseason play flipped the script as the Jays swept Mandan 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-13) Thursday evening.

Thursday’s semifinal never had the feel of a close contest. From the beginning Jamestown controlled the match, and it was relieving for Coach Sara Hegerle and the Jays.

In the regular season finale last Tuesday, Mandan knocked off Jamestown in three sets to secure the two seed. Jamestown was without their libero Rachel Schiele that night and undoubtedly hurt the Jays’ chances. Schiele was back and as good as ever in last night’s win recording 13 digs, an ace and seemed to cover every inch of the floor on defense. Hegerle realized how significant it was to get her back on the floor.

Schiele’s presence and a balanced attack sprung Jamestown to a semifinal victory. Ella Roaldson led the attack with 13 kills, Grace Hegerle had 8 and Hunter Peterson had 5 kills.

The Jays were phenomenal at the service line, as well. Nine aces graced the stat sheet for the Jays last night. Katie Trumbauer had four alone while Hegerle and Kaylee Panchot added two each.

Next up for Jamestown: the West Region Championship match. A rematch from last year’s championship awaits Jamestown as they take on Bismarck Century (20-0). The Patriots downed the Jays in last year’s championship match and ride a couple winning streaks into Saturday night. Century has won 20 matches in a row this season and six region tournament titles in a row. No strangers to titles, Century leads the WDA with 13 tournament titles since 1984. On the flip-side, Jamestown is one of three teams in the WDA to not win a tournament championship. They’ve got another chance Saturday night. Hegerle is optimistic on their chances.

Two state qualifiers precede the championship match tomorrow morning and afternoon. Legacy takes on St. Mary’s at 11 a.m. and Bismarck squares off against Mandan at 2:00 before the main course of Jamestown and Century. All three matches take place at Legacy High School.

Coverage of the championship match starts at 4:50 on Jamestown 107.1 FM and newsdakota.com.

Listen to Coach Hegerle’s full comments with the link below.