JC tops Mines in four

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Jon Hegerle watched his Jamestown College volleyball team go from sluggish to astounding during the same match.

The Jimmies let South Dakota Mines stay in control in game 1, but powered up and cruised from there in a 3-1 win on Saturday. Game scores were 20-25, 25-19, 25-16 and 25-18.

Early on, Hegerle said he could tell Mines was feeding off the momentum of senior night.

“They had a lot of incentive,” said Hegerle, whose team swept Mines at home earlier this season. “They came out with a lot of energy. … We weren’t very efficient. It was just low energy. We made a number of errors.”

But the Jimmies team that entered 23-7 reared its head in game 2, and it was in full force by game 3.

“We really kind of minimized our errors and made better decisions and started to become more efficient, offensively,” Hegerle said.

The third game was the least competitive, score-wise, and Hegerle said his team was at its best.

“The turning point was in the third. It felt like we were in charge of the match,” Hegerle said. “I haven’t seen that level of intensity, especially defensively. That certainly was a good way to respond after (Friday’s loss to Black Hills State). There was some concern there, but it was a nice way to end the weekend, playing consistently at that high level against a good South Dakota Mines team.”

The Jimmies got standout performances from Katie Zent, Kaitlyn Rogalla, Alaina Brown and Sarah Becker. Zent had 18 kills and 20 digs, while the other three had 10 kills apiece.

“The big three we kind of depend on — Sarah Becker, Katie Zent and Kaitlyn Rogalla — when those three are playing well, it opens up our offense for other players. I still felt like a number of times, our outside hitters had trouble consistently hitting the ball. We’re working a lot on making the right decisions on what the set is and what the defense is giving us.”

Kaia Buck and Kelsey Deragisch added 25 and 23 assists, respectively.

The Jimmies open up the Association of Independent Institutions tournament Friday in Mayville against Valley City State. The match is slated for 3 p.m.

Jamestown College 3, South Dakota Mines 1

JC 20 25 25 25

SDM 25 19 16 18

Jamestown College statistics

Kelsey Deragisch: 1 kill, 9 digs, 23 assists.

Alaina Brown: 10 kills, 23 digs, 1 block..

Kaitlyn Rogalla: 10 kills, 1 dig.

Janna Johnson: 6 kills, 2 digs.

Katie Zent: 18 kills, 20 digs, 2 blocks.

Emilee Schutta: 4 kills, 3 aces, 6 digs.

Katie Lee: 4 assists, 29 digs, 1 ace.

Beth Segerholm: 5 digs.

Kaia Buck: 25 assists, 2 aces, 12 digs.

Alex Hanson: 3 kills, 1 dig.

Sarah Becker: 10 kills, 3 digs, 1 block.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jimmies, volleyball