Saturday
Jamestown def Northwestern 25-17, 17-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-8
The UJ women’s volleyball team captured the Great Plains Athletic Conference regular season title Saturday, defeating Northwestern (Iowa) College 3-2 at Harold Newman Arena. Set scores were 25-17, 17-25, 24-26, 25-19, and 15-8.
Jamestown avenged its only regular-season loss, which came November 5 at Northwestern. The Jimmies had opened the season with 15 straight wins.
The Jimmies fell behind 5-0 in the first set but won 10 of the next 12 points to go ahead 10-7. A kill by Kalli Hegerle (JR/West Fargo, N.D.) made it 20-13, giving UJ its biggest advantage up to that point. Jayla Ritter (JR/Forest Lake, Minn.) slammed home the final point of the set to give UJ a 1-0 match lead.
Northwestern used a 6-1 run to break an 8-all tie in the second set, eventually taking a 25-17 win to tie the match.
Neither team would lead by more than two points in the third set until UJ went ahead 22-19 after an Anna Holen (JR/LaMoure, N.D.) kill. UJ had three set points but the Red Raiders rose to the challenge, going ahead 24-23. Another Holen kill tied the set but back-to-back kills ended it for Northwestern.
Tied at 12 in the fourth set, the Jimmies rattled off four points to create some separation, then would eventually lead 21-15 following a NWC attack error. Corina Huff (SR/Breezy Point, Minn.) and Kalli Hegerle kills made it 24-19, and another NWC attack error won the set for UJ, forcing the decisive fifth set.
UJ raced out to a 5-0 lead and appeared to be in control before the Red Raiders rallied with five of the next six points. NWC would get as close as 8-6 before three straight by the Jimmies made it 11-6. Taylor Sabinash (JR/Kensal, N.D.) put the exclamation point on the evening with the final kill of the match as UJ won 15-8.
Holen was one of three Jimmies with double figure kill totals, ending with 15. Nicole Schmitz (FR/Oakes, N.D.) had 12 and Hegerle 10.
Jackie Meiklejohn (JR/Dickey, N.D.) had a double-double of 30 assists and 12 digs, and Megan Gaffaney (JR/Jamestown, N.D.) also had a double-double of 19 assists and 12 digs.
Sydney Ellingson (SR/Langdon, N.D.) recorded a team-high 26 digs with Hannah Schiele (JR/Jamestown, N.D.) adding 13.
Huff and Hegerle both had a season-high 10 total blocks. Jayla Ritter had four block assists as well.
