Blue Jays sweep Bismarck

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There’s nothing quite like a big conference road victory to remind folks what many have believed since the beginning of the season.

The Jamestown Blue Jay volleyball team is legit.

The Jays blew into the Bismarck High School gymnasium on Tuesday night and they brought their brooms with them, sweeping one of the West Region’s top teams 25-21, 26-24, 25-18.

“We’ve been talking a lot about being composed and staying disciplined on the court,” JHS coach Sara Hegerle said. “We were making easy plays difficult lately, and tonight it was kind of like getting back to the old days and getting back to playing our volleyball.

“The girls were flat out getting after it and playing hard.”

Jamestown entered the contest after losing a pair of hard-fought, five-game contests to Dickinson (9-3, 5-0 WR) and Bismarck Century (7-4, 5-1 WR) last week to drop the team to 3-2 in West Region play. But Tuesday night’s win was a big one for Jamestown.

Not only did the team hand Bismarck just its second loss in the West (5-2, 7-5 overall), the Blue Jays proved to themselves that last week’s adversity was just another brick in the building that Hegerle and the Jays are trying to build.

“I kept telling them we just went five games with two really good teams in the state. We can’t lose confidence when we lose close matches,” Hegerle said. “Last week was super important, I think, in the development of our program.”

Junior setter Josie Hegerle brought her “A” game on Tuesday, racking up 22 assists, eight kills and an ace against the Demons. Hegerle found Jamestown junior hitter Addie Eamon on numerous occasions on offense, as Eamon racked up a team-leading 12 kills and four blocks.

“They played a lot in the offseason together, and you can kind of see it coming together for those two,” coach Hegerle said of Eamon and Josie Hegerle. “And our back row kids. They didn’t play very well against Dickinson last week but tonight they did. The Orr sisters are doing better back there and did a nice job tonight.”

The Orr sisters of junior McKayla and freshman Meghan were keeping balls in play all night. McKayla posted 22 digs, to Meghan’s 21.

“We went in and played hard. Bismarck, in my opinion, is the best team in the state right now,” Hegerle said. “This was a really good win for us.”

Jamestown (11-5, 4-2 regoin) faces St. Mary’s (8-5, 4-2 region) during Blue Jay Night this Thursday at the high school.

Jamestown 3, Bismarck 0

Jamestown 25 26 25

Bismarck 21 24 18

Jamestown statistics leaders

Aces: Julina Niemeier 2, Siri Jystad 2, Josie Hegerle 1

Kills: Addie Eamon 12, Jystad 9, Hegerle 8

Blocks: Eamon 4, Hegerle 3, Jystad 1

Assists: Hegerle 22, Rebekah Horgan 6

Digs: McKayla Orr 22, Meghan Orr 21, Horgan 16

Records: Jamestown 11-5, 4-2 West Region; Bismarck 7-5, 5-2 West Region.

Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jays, volleyball