Midweek match: Jays sweep Midgets at Jerry Meyer

Sara Hegerle said the Blue Jays were playing flat last weekend, but that was not an issue on Wednesday night.

Especially for Ella Roaldson.

Roaldson helped lead the Blue Jays to their seventh sweep of the season at Jerry Meyer Arena, besting the visiting Dickinson Midgets 25-16, 25-19, 25-20, and improving to 10-2.

The Jays remain second in the Western Dakota Conference (WDA), while Dickinson dropped to 2-11. The Jays are second only to undefeated Bismarck Century (14-0) who downed the Jays in five on Sept. 15.

Jamestown will kick off a three-game week starting Monday as the team will head to the capital city to take on Bismarck St. Mary's.

“I felt like we played a lot more composed," JHS head coach Sara Hegerle said of her team's midweek performance. "Winning is exciting, beating a team at home is exciting and having an opportunity to play volleyball is exciting.

"I just want them to be happy and when I see smiling on the court I feel like that is a good indicator that they are."

Roaldson’s contribution at the net made for plenty of smiles and enthusiasm on the Blue Jays’ side of the court. The senior was all over, finding gaps at all three spots in the front. Roaldson crushed 16 balls, putting many at the feet of Midget defenders.

“I feel like after this weekend - personally, I realized that wasn't how I wanted to play for the rest of the season - the rest of my high school career," Roaldson said. "Basically trying to win by putting pressure on the other team was definitely what I tried to do today."

The 5-foot-8 senior also showcased her hops, straining to try and get a touch off of swings from Mataya Mortensen and Jayce Bradley.

Roaldson is currently seventh in the WDA with 123 kills, averaging more than nine per match. In blocking, Roaldson sits fourth with 19.5 rejections at the net.

Blue Jay teammate and four-year varsity team member Grace Hegerle still leads the conference in kills with 154 points scored -- averaging more than 13 per set.

Having two of the best in the WDA certainly gave the Jays a little extra juice.

"When I hit a ball out of bounds and Ella gets set and puts it down I'm like, 'Well, at least one of us is doing good,'" Grace Hegerle said. "I kind of build off of her just because we have been playing together for so long."

While it was a sweep for the home team and a nice game for the two senior hitters the team in orange did not turn down their enthusiasm for even a moment of the three-set match.

It was a tug-of-war in the first with an offensive win here and defensive loss there. The two teams were within three points of each other until a five-point run by the Jays made it 15-10. Jamestown commanded the rest of the set allowing the Midgets just six more points.

“The last two nights we played Mandan and Jamestown," Dickinson head coach Jay Schobinger said. "The scores may not indicate it but we played our best volleyball of the year, so we are pretty pleased with the last two nights."

Both teams’ energy stayed high in the second with more kills coming from first-year varsity team members Hunter Petersen and Haylie Hakanson. The duo hammered home 11 balls past Dickinson libero Taya Hopfauf.

Despite being down two sets to none, Dickinson’s energy could not be curbed and it served the visitors well heading into the third set as the momentum swung back and forth almost as much as the two front rows.

The Midgets remained undaunted, even with big swings coming from Roaldson and Hegerle. Hopfauf sacrificed her body for the good of her team, diving this way and that to pop up the balls drilled through the Midgets' block.

"We have a couple of kids out there who want to play tenacious defense," Schobinger said. "Hopfauf has really done a good job learning how to read what the hitters are going to do. She's kind of the leader back there."

Hopfauf's dives were applauded by her teammates and the Midgets' enthusiasm almost gave them a win in the third, but it was the Blue Jays who managed to pull out a late five-point run to make it a 3-0 game.

"When the team you are playing has a lot of energy it just creates a lot more energy in the entire gym," coach Hegerle said. "When both teams have energy the volleyball is better and it's a lot more fun to watch and be a part of."

Jamestown 3, Dickinson 0

JHS 25 25 25

DHS 16 19 20

DHS -- Kills: Bradley 7, Mortenson 5, Arley Price 5. Assists: Paige Balliet 17. Digs: Hopfauf 18, Madison McChesney 9, McKenna Eckelberg 9. Aces: Eckelberg 2, Balliet 1, Hopfauf 1. Blocks: Jenna Decker 2, Mortenson 1, Balliet 1.

JHS -- Kills: Roaldson 16, Hegerle 7, Petersen 6, Katie Falk 6, Hakanson 5, Rachel Schiele 1. Assists: Katie Trumbauer 32, Hegerle 2. Digs: Schiele 13, Hegerle 8, Addi Douty 5, Kaylee Panchot 4, Trumbauer 3, Jenna Fischer 2, Aspyn Peterson 1, Roaldson 1, Petersen 1 . Aces: Douty 2, Hegerle 1, Peterson 1, Fischer 1. Blocks: Petersen 3, Hakanson 2, Hegerle 2, Trumbauer 1.

Records: Jamestown 10-2, Dickinson 2-11