Patriots top Blue Jays for tops in the West

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It wasn’t what the Jamestown High School volleyball team had in mind, but the end goal was reached.

Bismarck Century edged the Blue Jays in game 1 and used the momentum to throttle ahead the rest of the way in a 25-21, 25-12, 25-8 victory that captured the West Region tournament championship Saturday at Mandan High School.

“I think we were completely wiped out from (Friday),” said JHS coach Sara Hegerle, whose team beat Dickinson in four in the semifinals. “I think that’s all we had in us. ... I saw them play the best I’ve seen them play all year (against Dickinson). The following day, they played the worst I’ve seen them play all year. I think they were emotionally tired.”

Still, the Blue Jays earned the No. 2 seed for the Thursday’s Class A state tournament at the Minot State University Dome. They meet East Region No. 3 seed West Fargo at 2 p.m.

“I’m still proud of them,” Hegerle said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this week. We can’t spend too much time feeling sorry.”

The way the first game went, the match looked like it was going to be similar to the five-gamer played in Jamestown between the two teams earlier this season.

Jamestown took an early 5-2 lead behind a trio of kills from junior Addie Eamon, who finished with eight kills in the game and 11 for the match.

But Century rallied behind senior athlete of the year Hannah Larson, and the two teams battled evenly until a pair of Jamestown hitting errors put the Patriots up 21-19. The Blue Jays weren’t able to recover — not in the game or the match.

Century used an 8-1 run early in the second game to take control and started game 3 on a 13-4 run that eventually gave the Patriots the match.

Larson and teammate Ali Hasche each had 10 kills for the Patriots, who play East Region No. 4 seed Fargo Davies at 6 p.m.

Jenna Stilwell, Billie Buchanan and Josie Hegerle each had four kills in the loss. McKayla Orr and Meghan Orr had 15 and 14 digs, respectively.

The loss was the fourth time the Blue Jays have lost to a West Region opponent all year with three of them coming at the hands of the Patriots.

“This is not how we wanted to play,” Hegerle said. “We did not want to play Century that way.”

Hegerle was honored as West Region coach of the year, though she deflected credit to the people around her. The award is voted on by the coaches.

“So many people are involved in developing a program,” she said. “I certainly feel honored. I’ll accept it as an award for our entire program, (because) that’s really what they’re saying.”

Bismarck Century 3, Jamestown 0

Jamestown 21 12 8

Century 25 25 25

Jamestown — Kills, Addie Eamon 11, Jenna Stilwell 4, Billie Buchanan 4, Josie Hegerle 4. Assists, Hegerle 17, Rebekah Horgan 2. Aces, Hegerle 2. Digs, McKayla Orr 15, Meghan Orr 14, Hegerle 8.

Century — Kills, Hannah Larson 10, Ali Hasche 10, Ashley Bohrer 7. Assists, Shay Bense 28. Aces, Bense 2, Katie Chase 2. Digs, Courtney Kessler 17, Mikaila Wax 11, Elise Bauman 8.

West Region all-tournament-team

Century: Shay Bense, Ashley Bohrer, Courtney Kessler, Hannah Larson. Jamestown: Addie Eamon, Josie Hegerle, Siri Jystad, McKayla Orr. Bismarck: Karli Sanders, McKenzie Kiefer. Dickinson: Abby Grove, Ali Moody. Minot: Alex Bolinski. Bismarck St. Mary’s: Kaitlyn Schaftner.

Senior athlete of the year: Larson, Century.

Coach of the year: Sara Hegerle, Jamestown

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

Tags: sports, jays, volleyball