In the early stages of the season, errors came in bulk for the Jamestown volleyball team. But in Friday's home opener the Blue Jays' familiar foe became a helpful friend as Jamestown took down Minot to win its first West Region match of the season.
"It gives us confidence," said JHS coach Scott Fritz. "We struggled a little bit on the road and then we came back and played well at home."
Jamestown (4-6) took the match 25-21, 19-25, 25-11, 23-25 and 15-10.
"We had a lot of girls step up tonight and do quite a job for us," said Fritz. "That was great."
Minot was able to overcome its mistakes and send the game to a deciding fifth set, but consecutive errors in the midst of a 6-0 Jamestown rally proved the difference.
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The Blue Jays still had a few errors of their own, but with the lack of varsity experience up and down the roster, it is almost to be expected early in the season.
"It's early in the season yet," Fritz said. "We still have some unforced errors that we hope to eliminate through time. ... We've got a lot of girls that really haven't played at the varsity level before. They've played JV, and that's a little different, then all of a sudden everything gets a little bit quicker. The game moves much fast (at varsity)."
Jamestown's Niki Schmitz went off for 22 kills and four blocks, while Katie Ramlo recorded four aces from the service line, one of which capped off a 3-0 run in the opening set to give Jamestown a 9-7 lead -- a lead the Blue Jays never relinquished.
The Jays looked to be heading for consecutive set victories when they opened the second set with four straight points but the Majettes came back with a four-point rally of their own to knot the score at 4-all.
Neither team was able to take more than a three-point advantage until Minot closed out the set on a 7-3 run to knot the match at 1 set apiece.
Jamestown started the third set in a similar fashion, but 11 Minot errors throughout the set prevented the Majettes from building any kind of comeback. Jamestown ran away with the set 25-11, but Minot came back with a close 25-23 victory in the fourth to extend the game into the fifth set.
Minot senior Teresa Vetter and junior Jayd Eggert helped jolt the Majettes to a 17-10 lead but the Jays wouldn't go away.
Kills from Schmitz, Sondra Pergotski and Shelby Eamon down the stretch helped pull Jamestown to within one point but Vetter spoiled the fourth-set comeback with the final kill.
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"Minot has improved a lot over the last couple of years," said Fritz. "They've got some experienced girls that have stepped up. They just never give up."
Eamon had nine kills for the Jays and McCall Goehner recorded seven.
Ramlo and Pergotski engineered the offense with 21 and 18 assists, respectively.
Jamestown will close out its two-match homestand Tuesday when Bismarck Century comes to town.
"It's definitely nice to play at home," Fritz said. "We've put on a lot of road miles, and it's kind of nice to have that out of the way, but now we can focus on playing some matches at home."
Jamestown 3, Minot 2
Minot 21 25 11 25 10
Jamestown 25 19 25 23 15
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Jamestown Individual Statistics
Kills, Niki Schmitz 22, Shelby Eamon 9, McCall Goehner 7, Kaitlin Regan 6, Sondra Pergotski 4, Katie Ramlo 4; Assists, Ramlo 21, Pergotsli 18; Digs, Pergotski 24, Ramlo 18, Goehner 10, Regan 10, Kyra Dewald 10, Schmitz 8, Dana Jystad 7, Eamon 2; Bl;ocks, Schmitz 4, Pergotski 2, Ramlo 1; Aces, Ramlo 4, Schmitz, Eamon, Goehner, Regan.
Sun sports writer David Griswold can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at dgriswold@jamestownsun.com
