BELLEVUE, NE – Jamestown Jimmies Women’s Volleyball has had more than enough of playing on Bellevue’s home floor.
Dakota State outlasted UJ Friday in five sets, 15-25, 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 18-16, in a semifinal of the NSAA Women’s Volleyball Championship at the Gordon Lozier Athletic Center.
Both of the losses this season for Jamestown (22-2) have come on this court. The other was a four-set loss to Bellevue on October 26, a defeat that cost the Jimmies the chance to host the NSAA semifinals and final.
Dakota State (18-11), which had given UJ trouble in both regular season meetings despite the Jimmies winning both matches, had 17 blocks while holding Jamestown to a .218 hitting percentage.
Jamestown had very little trouble in the first set, having 15 kills and just three errors and hitting .308 to DSU’s .147. Aleah Zieske had two kills in a 9-4 stretch that gave the Jimmies a 15-10 lead. After Dakota State was within 17-14, Karlie Anderson and Zieske scored kills and Ellie Holen served an ace and Jamestown led 20-14. Anderson and Olson killed and Lily Bertsch served an ace as UJ scored the set’s last five points.
Dakota State then had the better of the second set, hitting .353 to the Jimmies’ .214. UJ led 14-9 before Dakota State scored nine straight points, helped by kills from Sydney Schell and Hailey Wathan, an ace by Reagan VanRooyan, a Hailey Wathan block, and a combined block by Hannah Evans and Hailey Wathan. Tristyn Maras, Schell, Macey Wathan and Brooklyn Grage had kills for the last four Trojan points.
Charlotte Lempka, Lexi Olson and Anderson had kills as Jamestown took a 13-8 lead in the third set. Dakota State cut into the lead, but a Charlee Krieg kill made the UJ advantage 21-19. But DSU scored three straight on a service error, a block by Evans and Grage and a block by Evans and Hailey Wathan. A Maras kill gave Dakota State a set point at 24-22 before an error and a kill by Lempka for 24-24. Maras then killed again for a 25-24 lead for the Trojans and a Jimmie attack error gave Dakota State a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth, UJ was down 17-16 before scoring three straight on an attack error and kills by Krieg and Gracie Adamson. Anderson and Zieske ended the set with consecutive kills and the Jimmies held Dakota State to .115 hitting.
An 8-8 in the fifth set was followed by a 6-2 run by Dakota State for match point. Included were a kill by Schell, a combined block by Grage & Macey Wathan and kills by Macey Wathen, Hailey Wathen and Maras. But at 14-10 for DSU, the Jimmies saved four match points with kills by Zieske and Adamson, a block by Krieg & Olson and a Zieske ace. The teams traded points through 16-16 before a service error gave Dakota State a 17-16 lead. The Trojans’ 17th block, by Grage & Macey Wathan, gave the Trojans the victory.
Schell had 17 kills and 21 digs for Dakota State. Hailey Wathan had 12 kills. Maras had 11. Grage scored 10. VanRooyan had 23 digs.
Zieske had 24 kills and 14 digs for Jamestown. Adamson had 14 kills. Anderson had 12, with Lempka scoring 11 and Krieg hitting 10. Tenley Buddenhagen had 38 set assists and Bertsch had 27. Holen had 34 digs.
With the Jimmies’ high ranking, third in the final coaches poll, Jamestown is expected to receive an at-large bid to the NAIA Women’s Volleyball Championship. The Selection Show is scheduled for Monday at noon Central time.
photo credit: Kuhlmann Photos