SIOUX CITY, Iowa— No. 10 Southern Oregon University handed the 24th-ranked University of Jamestown volleyball team a 3-0 defeat in the opening game of Pool G at the 2018 NAIA Volleyball National Championships presented by Delta Hotels.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: (10) Southern Oregon 3, (24) Jamestown 0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-23)
LOCATION: Tyson Events Center, Sioux City, Iowa
RECORDS: Southern Oregon 27-3, Jamestown 22-9
HOW IT HAPPENED
*Southern Oregon took first-set leads of 7-1 and 14-4 before Jamestown rallied to cut the deficit to 15-10. The Raiders then regained the momentum with eight of the next nine points to take a commanding 23-11 advantage.
*The Jimmies won three of the first four points in the second set, and trailed by as few as two at 11-9 before Southern Oregon went on a 5-2 run to open up a 16-11 lead. Down 22-15, UJ used a kill by Isabel Wedell (JR/Ellendale, N.D.) and two Raider attack errors to cut the lead to 22-18 before SOU won the next three points.
*In set three, Southern Oregon jumped out to a 10-3 lead and led by no less than five points for the rest of the set until Jordan Thomas (JR/Pingree, N.D.)’ kill made it 22-19. The teams traded the next four points, and with the Jimmies facing match point, another Thomas kill, a combo block by Britta Knudson (JR/Bismarck, N.D.) and Jayla Ritter (SO/Forest Lake, Minn.), and a SOU attack error found UJ down 24-23. The Raiders closed out the match with a kill by Taylor Ristvedt.
FOR UJ
* Wedell led the way with 11 kills and hit .556 for the match, with one error in 18 attempts. Knudson and Corina Ruud (SO/Breezy Point, Minn.) each had six kills, with Kennedy Conzemius (SR/Breckenridge, Minn.) adding five.
*The Jimmies hit .168 for the match with 39 kills and 21 errors in 107 attempts.
*Miranda Lowman (JR/Mandan, N.D.) passed out 19 assists while Jackie Meiklejohn (FR/Dickey, N.D.) added 15.
*Julina Niemeier (SR/Jamestown, N.D.) had 15 of Jamestown’s 31 digs.
*Knudson had four block assists. Ruud finished with three total blocks, including two block assists.
FOR SOU
*Ristvedt had a match-high 13 kills and hit .444 in 27 attempts. Elliott Cook and Makayla Hoyt both added eight kills.
*The Raiders hit .366 for the match with 46 kills and 12 errors in 93 attempts.
*Natalie James had a double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs.
*Emma Ryan had 13 digs to lead SOU.
*Both Cook and Hoyt had five total blocks. Hoyt had three solo and Cook one.
UP NEXT
*Day 2 of pool play continues Wednesday with Jamestown taking on No.7 Viterbo (Wis.) (30-6) at 2 p.m., while Southern Oregon faces Saint Xavier (Ill.) (28-10) at 4 p.m. Viterbo defeated Saint Xavier 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19) earlier Tuesday.
