SIOUX CITY, Iowa (JimmieAthletics.com) – In their last 10 meetings against Northwestern (Iowa) College, the University of Jamestown volleyball team played to a 1-9 record, with the lone win coming on September 10, 2011. Since that date, the Jimmies lost eight in a row, winning just seven sets in all. Each of the home and away matchups in 2018 and 2019 ended in Red Raider sweeps.

Friday night the Great Plains Athletic Conference rivals met in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship presented by Marriott South Sioux City Riverfront.

The eighth-ranked Jimmies ended their run of misfortune against the No. 2 Red Raiders, winning 3-1 to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20, 27-29, 26-24.

Jamestown (33-5) will play Marian (Ind.) 11 a.m. Saturday while the other semifinal pits Viterbo (Wis.) against Westmont (Calif.). The winners will meet for the national championship at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.

UJ opened up leads of 7-3, 14-9, and 16-10 before Northwestern came back to tie the first set at 20. The Red Raiders went ahead 22-20 and 23-21, only to have the Jimmies take the final four points of the set and a 1-0 match lead. Ellie Michaletz (JR/Aitkin, Minn.) had four kills in the set while Britta Knudson (SR/Bismarck, N.D.), Jordan Thomas (SR/Pingree, N.D.), and Isabel Wedell (SR/Ellendale, N.D.) each had two.

Momentum continued to favor UJ in set two, as Jamestown took 4-1 and 10-6 leads. Northwestern again battled back to tie the set at 19, but a 6-1 run by the Jimmies made it 2-0 in the match. Knudson racked up five more kills and was helped out by Wedell and Corina Ruud (JR/Breezy Point, Minn.) with four each.

Set three was closely contested as neither team led by more than two points until the Red Raiders went ahead 19-15. A 5-2 Jimmie run made it 21-20, but back-to-back Northwestern points pushed the lead to three again.

Jamestown again found themselves down four points in the fourth set at 19-15, but scored six of the next eight points to tie the set at 21. The teams traded points until a Red Raider attack error and a Ruud kill closed out the match.

Wedell (15 kills, .371 hitting), Knudson (12 kills, .370 hitting), and Thomas (11 kills, .200 hitting) combined for 38 of UJ’s 63 kills. Taylor Sabinash (SO/Kensal, N.D.) added seven kills and hit an efficient .313. Ruud and Ellie Michaletz both had six kills.

Miranda Lowman (SR/Mandan, N.D.) passed out 30 assists and Jackie Meiklejohn (SO/Dickey, N.D.) 23. Lowman, Wedell, and Hannah Schiele (SO/Jamestown, N.D.) all had two service aces each.

Anna Holen (SO/LaMoure, N.D.) dug 16 balls and Sydney Ellingson (JR/Langdon, N.D.) added 15. Ruud finished with seven total blocks, including two solo. Sabinash, Wedell, and Knudson all had three blocks.

Northwestern (32-2) was led by Anna Wedel, who had 29 kills and hit .375. Lacey Wacker dished out 51 assists while Emily Strasser had 22 digs.