MINOT – A confidence boost helped Jamestown Blue Jays Volleyball, but not quite enough.
Bismarck fought off Jamestown Thursday in four sets, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 25-19 in the quarterfinal round of the Class A West Region Volleyball Tournament at Minot High School’s Magic City Campus.
Jamestown (19-17) lost in this round of the regional tournament for the first time since 2011.
Coming off a play-in win at home exactly one week earlier over St. Mary’s, seventh seed Jamestown played second seed Bismarck (28-8) even through most of the first set. The fifth of six first-set kills by Lucy Falk gave the Blue Jays an 18-16 lead. But the Demons scored the next six points, four on kills. Two were by Jensen Hintz and Jordyn Rood and Aspen Roaldson had one each. A Falk kill, Brooklyn Busch block and Amelia Newman ace brought the Jays within 23-21, but Rosalyn Brunelle and Taylor Mayer had kills for the Demons to end the set. Brunelle played in place of Mya Williams, who injured her ankle in the pre-match warmup.
11-11 was the score in the second set before another Bismarck run, this time of five straight points. Rood had a block and Dalena Aamot and Brunelle scored kills. But Jamestown then had its best stretch of the match, scoring 12 of the next 14 points. Mari Anderson had a kill and two blocks. Leah Trumbauer had two kills and an ace. Falk had three more kills. Three errors by Bismarck ended the run and Jamestown led 23-18, then had kills by Edie Hegerle and Falk to even the match.
Bismarck answered in the third set. After Jamestown led 12-11, Brunelle had two kills, Rood scored two blocks and Hintz served an ace for six straight points and a 17-12 Demon advantage. Two kills by Falk helped Jamestown cut the lead to 24-21 before a Blue Jay attack error gave Bismarck the third set and a 2-1 lead.
Jamestown blazed to a 9-3 lead in the fourth set behind a block and two aces by Hegerle and two kills each by Falk and Busch. Bismarck then came back for 15-13 and 17-15 leads. Trumbauer killed to tie the set at 18-18, then had another for a 19-19 tie, but that was the Blue Jays’ last point. Hintz killed for a 20-19 Bismarck lead, followed by two blocks, a Jamestown attack error and another block. Rood placed a kill to end the match.
Brunelle led Bismarck with 14 kills. She also had two and a half blocks and four digs. Rood, Hintz and Aamot had 10 kills each. Rood also had four blocks. Hintz added 10 digs. Madison Foster had 34 digs and Roaldson had 40 assists.
Falk led Jamestown with 17 kills and also had one and a half blocks. Trumbauer had 12 kills and 21 digs, one of three Blue Jays with at least 21 digs. Hegerle had 27 digs and 37 assists. Libero Jetta Peterson also had 21 digs.
Jamestown will play Minot North in an elimination match on Friday in Minot. Coverage will begin at 2:45 PM on The Voice of the Blue Jays, Jamestown 107.1. The Sentinels, in their first season of varsity play, lost in three sets to Minot in a quarterfinal on Thursday.
In the teams’ lone regular season match, Minot North topped the Blue Jays in five sets in Minot on September 24.