Jimmie Men’s Volleyball, Conference Semifinal, Fri.

Jamestown  (UJ)  The fourth-ranked University of Jamestown men’s volleyball team punched its ticket to the final match of the GPAC postseason tournament Friday, defeating Morningside (Iowa) College 3-0 at Harold Newman Arena. Set scores were 25-16, 25-13, and 25-19.

Jamestown (19-2) will face Ottawa (Kan.) in Saturday’s final at Harold Newman Arena beginning at 6 p.m.

Four different Jimmies registered multiple kills in the first set, led by Samuel Jackman (SO/St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba)’s five. Jamestown took a 20-9 lead and eventually went ahead 23-10 before Morningside rattled off five straight points, their only multi-point run in the set. A Mustang service error clinched the set for UJ and a 1-0 match lead.

Set two saw Jamestown put up one of its most dominant performances of the season. The Jimmies hit .700 on 20 attempts, making just one error. A pair of Jackman service aces and one each by Braden Neumann (JR/Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Tanner Woods (FR/Huntington Beach, Calif.) kept the Morningside serve receive guessing. The Mustangs had just three kills and hit -.071. Eight service errors by the Jimmies accounted for over half of the Morningside points in the set. After taking a 13-8 lead, Jamestown would never trail by any fewer than six the rest of the way.

Zack Meyer (JR/Wheaton, Ill.) (five kills) and Clark Steele (JR/Lake Forest, Calif.) (three kills) combined for eight of UJ’s 15 kills in the final set. Morningside stayed within two to four points before the Jimmies gradually began to pull away. Back-to-back kills by Meyer started a 3-0 run that gave UJ a six-point edge. A kill by Downey Huynh (FR/Fountain Valley, Calif.) followed by a Huynh ace put the Jimmies at match point. The Mustangs staved off elimination by one more point after a kill, but made a service error on the next play to give UJ the win.

Jackman led the way with eight kills, followed by Meyer and Derek Owens (FR/Andover, Minn.) with seven each. Derek Correa (FR/Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) passed out 39 assists and Caylor Cox (FR/Helena, Mont.) had eight digs. Austin Jacob (FR/Houston, Texas) finished with three total blocks.