Thursday

JAMESTOWN (uj.edu)— Despite having an off-night offensively, the University of Jamestown volleyball team found a way to remain unbeaten in Great Plains Athletic Conference play, taking care of Briar Cliff (Iowa) in four sets Thursday evening at Harold Newman Arena.

Set scores were 25-17, 13-25, 25-22, 25-20.

The win improves the Jimmies’ overall record to 10-1 and 3-0 in the GPAC. Briar Cliff falls to 7-4 and 1-2 in the GPAC.

Jamestown was outhit in the match .185-.118 but used a strong team defensive effort along with the double attack of  Ellie Michaletz (SO/Aitkin, Minn.) (11 kills) and Britta Knudson (JR/Bismarck, N.D.) (10 kills).

The duo made only two errors in 45 total attempts, good for a .422 hitting percentage. Corina Ruud (SO/Breezy Point, Minn.) was next with nine kills and Kennedy Conzemius (SR/Breckenridge, Minn.) added eight.

As a team, Jamestown finished with 90 digs, led by Julina Niemeier (SR/Jamestown, N.D.)’s 27 and Meghan Orr (JR/Ypsilanti, N.D.)’s 21. All 13 Jimmies registered at least one dig in the match. Knudson and Conzemius both had four total blocks, with Conzemius recording three solo.

Miranda Lowman (JR/Mandan, N.D.) passed out 28 assists and Jackie Meiklejohn (FR/Dickey, N.D.) (17) was also in double figures.

Outside of hitting percentage, the Jimmies had advantages in assists (51-37), aces (2-1), digs (90-60), and made five fewer service errors (11-6) than the Chargers.

Next up for the Jimmies is a GPAC conference match Saturday at home against Northwestern (Iowa) College. The junior varsity starts at 3:30 with the varsity following at 5:00 p.m. Briar Cliff travels to Mayville State (N.D.) for a non-conference match on Friday.

Saturday…

Northwestern (Iowa) College def Jamestown -25-19,25-12,25-21

The University of Jamestown volleyball team had its four-match winning streak come to an end Saturday, losing in three sets to No. 16 Northwestern (Iowa) College 19-25, 12-25, 21-25.

Lauryn Hilger had a match-high 18 kills and hit .500 for Northwestern, while Makenzie Fink hit. 560 with 15 kills. Lacey Wacker had 35 assists for the Red Raiders, who improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

Kennedy Conzemius (SR/Breckenridge, Minn.) led Jamestown (10-2, 3-1 GPAC) with six kills and a .600 hitting percentage. Isabel Wedell (JR/Ellendale, N.D.) was next with five kills followed by Anna Holen (FR/LaMoure, N.D.) with four. Miranda Lowman (JR/Mandan, N.D.) had 11 assists and Julina Niemeier (SR/Jamestown, N.D.) posted a team-best 12 digs.

Northwestern outhit the Jimmies .415-.183 in the match. Both teams had 11 attack errors and 82 attempts, but the difference was a 45-26 edge in kills. The Red Raiders also had a 42-30 advantage in digs and had one more ace (6-5) than UJ.

Jamestown will play its next four games away from Harold Newman Arena, beginning Tuesday at Valley City State (N.D.)