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JAMESTOWN — The No. 2-ranked University of Jamestown's match against No.6-ranked Concordia University lived up to the hyped on Friday, Oct. 7, at Harold Newman Arena. It took until the second set for that to happen though in a Jimmies four-set win (25-11, 24-26, 27-25, 25-16) over the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs’ Camryn Opfer got a kill to cut her team’s deficit to 6-5 in the opening set. The Jimmies would respond with a 6-2 run to make it 12-7. The Jimmies stretched the lead out to 18-10 drawing a Bulldogs timeout, which wouldn’t stem the tide much as the Jimmies proceeded to win the set 25-11.
“I think we were just pretty locked in, focus-wise,” Jimmies head coach Jon Hegerle said. “That was one of the best sets that a Jimmie team has ever played. We served tough, we passed, we did everything really really well that first set. I knew it was going to be difficult for us to continue that throughout the match. We were playing at one of our highest levels at that point.”
The second set was much tighter with both teams using all of their timeouts. The set saw six ties and four lead changes. The Bulldogs (16-2, 7-2) looked to be sailing to a second set win up 24-20 but the Jimmies had other ideas as they went on a 4-0 run to tie the second set up at 24, punctuated by a block by Lexi Olson that put the crowd inside Harold Newman Arena into a frenzy. The Bulldogs would go on a 2-0 run to win the second set 26-24.
“(The Bulldogs) were more in system and they were passing better,” Jimmies outsider hitter Anna Holen said. “Granted it was a combination of they were passing better and we were also serving less aggressively so they were able to be in system more.”
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The Jimmies (19-1, 7-0) appeared to be well on their way to a third-set win up 17-10 but the Bulldogs would not let it stay that way going on a 6-2 run to cut their deficit to 19-16. The Jimmies would respond with a run to stretch the lead out to 24-22. The Bulldogs fought back to tie the set up at 25. The Jimmies got a kill from Anna Holen to take a 26-25 lead and then a Tenley Buddenhagen ace gave the Jimmies the 27-25 third set win.
The Jimmies sprinted out to an 8-4 lead in the fourth set, drawing a Bulldogs timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Jimmies went on a 5-1 run drawing another Bulldogs timeout with the score sitting at 13-5.
“It was great,” Hegerle said. “You could sense it and once we get momentum, we’re pretty tough. We have to do a better job sometimes keeping momentum and that means not missing serves and all that kind of stuff at important times.”
Out of the second timeout, the Jimmies ran away with the set taking a 17-9 lead. The Bulldogs could not stop the Jimmies the rest of the way with a kill from the Jimmies’ Aleah Zieske giving the Jimmies the 25-16 fourth set win.
The Jimmies are back in action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, when they host No. 3-ranked Midland University.
“We’re ready to roll,” Hegerle said. “Our team loves playing these two teams and we’ve had some historic battles with both these teams and so we’re pretty excited about tomorrow.”
CUNE 1 UJ 3
CUNE: 11 26 25 16–1
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UJ: 25 24 27 25—3
Kills leaders:
CUNE: Carly Rodaway 14, Gabi Nordaker 7, Camryn Opfer 6
UJ: Kalli Hegerle 18, Anna Holen 15, Aleah Zieske 12
Assists leaders:
CUNE: Bree Burtwistle 31, Bree Green 6, Lexi Kreizel 2
UJ: Hegerle 26, Paige Oswald 23, Ellie Holen 4
Aces leaders:
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CUNE: Cassidy Knust 2, Burtwistle 1, Kennedy VanScoy 1
UJ: E.Holen 2, Tenley Buddenhagen 2
