UJ Women’s Volleyball Come Back Win Tues.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa  (UJ) — The top-ranked University of Jamestown women’s volleyball team survived its opening pool play match at the NAIA Womens’ Volleyball National Championship Tuesday morning, defeating No. 17 Viterbo (Wis.) University in five sets. Set scores were 25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 25-15, and 15-13.

Jamestown, now 28-1 overall, closes out pool play Wednesday against University of Providence (Mont.) at 10:30 a.m.

Despite being narrowly outhit .220-.216 in the first set, the Jimmies took a 25-23 victory in set one. Taylor Sabinash (JR/Kensal, N.D.) had five kills to lead the offense with Kalli Hegerle (JR/West Fargo, N.D.) adding three kills while Nicole Schmitz (FR/Oakes, N.D.) and Corina Huff (SR/Breezy Point, Minn.) each had two. Viterbo had leads of 20-19 and 21-20 before UJ came back to pull ahead 22-21. A Viterbo kill tied the set, but Hegerle and Sabinash had back-to-back kills to send UJ to set point. An attack error by the Jimmies made it 24-23, but Anna Holen (JR/LaMoure, N.D.)’s kill ended the set.

Viterbo trailed 5-3 in set two but rattled off six straight points to lead 9-5. The Jimmies cut the lead to 12-9, but the V-Hawks gradually built the lead to seven. A Sabinash kill made it 21-18 but Viterbo closed out the set with four of the last five points.

Jamestown led 6-5 in set three only to have the V-Hawks score five straight to make it 10-6. A Schmitz kill ended the rally, and UJ got within a point at 13-12 after a Viterbo service error. Another run of four straight from the V-Hawks made it 17-12, and the Jimmies were no closer than four points the rest of the way.

UJ had a dominating fourth set on both sides of the net, hitting .457 with just one error on 35 attempts while holding Viterbo to a .116 hitting percentage. Hegerle posted eight kills and Holen three as the Jimmies ran off three or more straight points on three different times in the set. Hegerle, Sabinash, Huff, and Jayla Ritter (JR/Forest Lake, Minn.) all had two block assists and Sydney Ellingson (SR/Langdon, N.D.) had six digs.

In the decisive fifth set, Jamestown led 10-6 before Viterbo rallied to tie. Huff and Hegerle put the Jimmies ahead by a pair, then the V-Hawks scored two straight to tie again. Once more, Huff and Hegerle struck to give UJ a 14-12 lead, and on match point, a ball-handling error gave Viterbo another chance. However, the ensuing serve was in the net, and the Jimmies won 15-12.

Hegerle came back from rolling an ankle on the second point of the match and posted a career-high 23 kills, hitting .512 with just one error. Huff and Sabinash both had 10 kills while Ritter and Holen each had nine.

Jackie Meiklejohn (JR/Dickey, N.D.) passed out 31 assists, while Megan Gaffaney (JR/Jamestown, N.D.) had a double-double of 28 assists and 11 digs. Ellingson recorded a team-high 29 digs and Holen had 18. Ritter had seven total blocks, followed by Hegerle with three.

A win over Providence Wednesday would send Jamestown to the quarterfinals, which begin on Thursday.