From Jamestown Athletics

DES MOINES, Iowa– The fifth-ranked University of Jamestown men’s volleyball team opened pool play with a sweep of No. 11 Aquinas (Mich.) College Wednesday evening at the NAIA Men’s Volleyball Championship. Set scores were 25-17, 25-23, 25-20.

The Jimmies improve to 20-5 overall and will face No. 1 Grand View (Iowa) University Thursday at 7 p.m. in the final match of pool play. The winner of Thursday’s match will advance to the semifinals.

Aquinas led 8-6 and 9-8 in set one before a kill by Derek Owens (SO/Andover, Minn.) and a combined block by Owens and Samuel Jackman (JR/St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba) put UJ ahead 10-9. Jamestown would not trail again, and a 6-0 run after Aquinas had gotten as close at 16-15 proved to be the difference.

Set two was all Jimmies, and it looked as if UJ would cruise to an easy 2-0 match lead after taking a 17-10 lead. Aquinas hung around, and despite being down to set point at 24-20, reeled off three straight points and forced a Jamestown timeout. After the timeout, Korben Phillips (FR/Western, Australia) took a Derek Correa (SO/Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) pass and ended the set.

UJ played from behind in the third set, trailing as much as 10-7, then used a service error to start a string of three straight to tie the set. After Aquinas went back in front 11-10, the Jimmies used an Owens kill and two Saint attack errors to retake the lead. Jamestown kept the lead as high as three points, and a Caylor Cox (SO/Helena, Mont.) kill, Tanner Woods (SO/Huntington Beach, Calif.) ace, and Woods kill gave UJ the win.

Woods had 14 kills and hit .579, while Owens was a perfect 1.000 with nine kills. Correa passed out 28 assists and had four digs. Braden Neumann (SR/Costa Mesa, Calif.) had a team-best five digs, and Owens recorded five total blocks, including four solo.