COSTA MESA, Calif. (uj.edu) — The University of Jamestown men’s volleyball team earned its first win over a top-10 opponent in program history on Tuesday, defeating No. 8 Vanguard University 3-1. Set scores were 25-17, 21-25, 25-19, 25-15.
Jamestown (11-2) had been 0-2 against ranked opponents this season, falling to No. 2 Grand View (Iowa) University and No. 3 Park (Mo.) University, but put together a strong performance in defeating the Lions at home.
The first set was even throughout, with Vanguard taking a 12-11 lead. UJ rattled off seven straight points to pull ahead 18-12 and the Lions were unable to get within five points the rest of the set. Leading 22-16, Jamestown got its final three points on Vanguard attack errors.
UJ played from behind in the second set, eventually tying the set at 15. The Lions took six of the next seven points to go ahead 21-16 and eventually closed out the set with a Jimmie attack error and a pair of kills.
Jamestown responded in the third set, taking a 12-7 lead before Vanguard got as close as 16-14. Kills by Austin Jacob (FR/Houston, Texas) and Clark Steele (JR/Lake Forest, Calif.) bookended a pair of Lion attack errors as UJ went ahead 20-15.
In the fourth set, Vanguard managed to get as close as 7-7, but the Jimmies went on a 9-3 run to create some space and gain the momentum. Back-to-back kills by Caylor Cox (FR/Helena, Mont.) made it 21-14, then three straight Vanguard attack errors and a Nick Vanags (FR/San Diego, Calif.) kill closed out the match.
Steele hit a season-high .579 with 25 kills in 38 attempts to pace the offense. Derek Owens (FR/Andover, Minn.) hit a team-best .643 with 10 kills and the duo of Jacob and Cox each had six kills.
Derek Correa (FR/Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) passed out 42 assists in helping the Jimmies hit a season-best .505 as a team. Jamestown has posted its top two match hitting percentage in each of its last two contests.
Braden Neumann (JR/Costa Mesa, Calif.) led the defense with 11 digs, followed by Cox with seven and Steele with six. Owens recorded four total blocks, including three block assists.
The Jimmies will play a pair of exhibition contests against Pepperdine University and Concordia-Irvine on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, then will be at The Master’s (Calif.) University on Friday.
