The Jamestown High School volleyball team was well aware they'd have their hands full during their visit to Bismarck Century on Thursday night.
The Patriots are currently the No. 1 team in the West Region, piling up an overall record of 27-5 and a sparkling region mark of 14-0 heading into the match against the Blue Jays.
Thursday's 3-0 outcome in favor of the Patriots may not indicate it on paper, but the Blue Jays held their own at times against the West's best team, according to JHS head coach Sara Hegerle, especially during the first set of the match when the Blue Jays competed to a 16-16 tie with the Patriots halfway through.
But getting over the hump wasn't something the Jays were able to accomplish as they fell by the finals scores of 25-19, 25-16, 25-16.
"We played to 15, 16 points in every game, but then (Century) just took over and we had hitting error after hitting error," Hegerle said. "I think we were a little surprised that we were actually beating a team like them, but then A.J. hits a ball straight down and we just get deflated."
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The A.J. the coach was referring to was Century's 6-foot-0 all-state senior outside hitter Alexis Jacobs, who is tough for any team in the state to try and corral.
The Blue Jays didn't put up a whole lot of offensive stats, as the team was led by sophomore Josie Hegerle with 6 kills and senior Katie Ramlo with 14 assists. But the glaring stat was just one ace serve scored by the Blue Jays on the night, recorded by Ramlo.
"Our passing was pretty good, but we had a lot of missed serves and people that usually hit the ball well just had an off night," Coach Hegerle said. "(Century) knows how to win, and that was the difference. They just play along and play along, and then they say, 'What are we doing?' and hammer two balls down and everything we did is out the window."
Jamestown sophomore McKayla Orr and senior Steph Kropp played a solid match for the Jays in the back row, pacing the team with 20 and 18 digs, respectively.
"I'm not saying we didn't play hard. We did play hard 50 percent of the time," JHS coach Sara Hegerle said. "But against a team like Century you can't play hard 50 percent of the time and win."
Even though it goes down as a loss for the Blue Jays, falling to a solid team like the Patriots isn't indicative of the solid season the Jays have put together. The team has now played to a record of 17-11, and the Jays are holding the No. 3 spot in the West Region with a record of 9-6.
"It's not the end of the season. This wasn't an indicator of where or program is headed right now, so we don't feel terrible," Hegerle said. "But the thing is we have to keep expecting good things to happen. If you stop expecting good things to happen, good things won't happen."
The Blue Jays can lock up the No. 3 seed in the West Region with a victory at Mandan next Tuesday night in the team's final region contest. The Braves were 8-6 in the West Region heading into Thursday night.
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"We're holding steady at No. 3 and if we beat Mandan we'll be locked into that third spot," Hegerle said. "That's definitely where we want to be at tournament time. We're really shooting to go in and play hard against Mandan and get a victory there."
Bismarck Century 3, Jamestown 0
Jamestown 19 16 16
Century 25 25 25
JHS -- Digs, McKayla Orr 20, Steph Kropp 18, Josie Hegerle 9. Aces, Katie Ramlo 1. Kills, Hegerle 6, Kayla Thoele 4, Siri Jystad 4. Blocks, Addie Eamon 4, Hegerle 2. Assists, Ramlo 14, Hegerle 4.
Records: Bismarck Century 28-5, 15-0 West Region; Jamestown 17-11, 9-6 West Region.
Sun sports writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
