Fast start for Jimmies

• Sarah Becker

Sarah Becker
• Kaitlyn Rogalla

Kaitlyn Rogalla

Talk about it

The start may have been a little shaky, but the finish was very strong for the Jamestown College volleyball team on Saturday.

The Jimmies blitzed both Waldorf College and host Valley City State for a pair of season-opening sweeps, allowing neither team past 22 points in any of the six sets.

“There were a lot of errors in the first couple of sets, but then we started to get into rhythm and did pretty well,” JC coach Jon Hegerle said. “I really thought we served well and passed well and because of that we were able to be pretty balanced on the attack.”

Waldorf hung with the Jimmies in the opening two sets (25-22 twice), but not the third (25-15).

The Vikings were no match either, and it got more one-sided as it went — 25-18, 25-15 and 25-9 — for a 2-0 start to the season.

The Jimmies expect to be good again, so Hegerle was looking more macro than micro.

“We just have to get better at being more consistent offensively and from the service line. That’s something that hurt us last year, making unforced errors at inopportune times,” he said. “Our veteran players understand the ebb and flow of a match. It’s really crucial to make positive plays and raise our game IQ and understand game situations and where we’re at especially when we get to those pivotal points in a match.”

There weren’t many of those Saturday as the Jimmies mostly dominated.

They pounded down 47 kills against Waldorf. Katie Zent (12), Kaitlyn Rogalla (10) and freshman Alaina Brown (10) were all in double figures.

They pretty much served Valley City State off the court, connecting on 13 aces.

“We really served tough and they kind of broke down with their serve receive and we were able to keep the pressure on,” Hegerle said.

Kelsey Deragisch fired in five aces, plus she pushed up a team-high 35 assists overall. Zent and Brown had seven and six kills, respectively, against the Vikings. Sarah Becker had 11 kills on the day and did not have a single hitting error.

Katie Lee had 11 digs against Waldorf and Beth Segerholm’s nine led against VCSU.

“From a results-standpoint it was a really good start for us. We’re doing the right things, but this is more of a baseline test to see where we’re at and where we need to go from here,” Hegerle said. “We need to get back into the gym and take care of the little things and work hard to make improvements as we go forward.”

The level of competition will take a step up this weekend at the Northwestern College Tournament in Orange City, Iowa. The Jimmies play four matches in two days, stating Friday against 19th-ranked Bellevue (Neb.).

At Valley City State

Jamestown College 3, Waldorf College 0

Jamestown College 25 25 25

Waldorf College 22 22 15

Jamestown College statistics

Kelsey Deragisch: 22 assists, 1 ace, 6 digs.

Alaina Brown: 10 kills, 5 digs.

Kaitlyn Rogalla: 10 kills, 1 Assist, 1 dig.

Alex Hanson: 6 kills, 2 digs.

Katie Zent: 12 kills, 1 assist, 5 digs, 2 blocks.

Emilee Schutta: 2 kills, 1 assist, 3 aces, 2 digs.

Katie Lee: 2 assists, 2 aces, 11 digs.

Beth Segerholm: 4 digs.

Kaia Buck: 14 assists, 8 digs.

Amanda Kramer: 1 assist.

Sarah Becker: 6 kills, 1 block.

Kaitlyn Bollingberg: 1 kill, 1 assist.

Jamestown College 3, Valley City State 0

Jamestown College 25 25 25

Valley City State 18 15 9

Jamestown College statistics

Kelsey Deragisch: 1 kill, 13 assists, 5 aces, 6 digs.

Alaina Brown: 6 kills, 2 aces, 1 dig, 2 blocks.

Kaitlyn Rogalla: 5 kills.

Alex Hanson: 3 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks.

Katie Zent: 7 kills, 3 aces, 4 digs, 2 blocks.

Emilee Schutta: 3 kills.

Katie Lee: 1 assist, 8 digs.

Beth Segerholm: 9 digs.

Kaia Buck: 8 assists, 2 aces, 5 digs.

Amanda Kramer: 1 assist, 1 ace.

Sarah Becker: 5 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks.

Kaitlyn Bollingberg: 2 kills, 1 dig, 1 block.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, sports, jimmies, volleyball