Early bird special: Jimmies open NAIA tournament with a sweep

Dec. 1—There was a mix of very little sleep, caffeine and some jumbled nerves in the systems of the University of Jamestown women's volleyball team as they walked into the Tyson Events Center early Tuesday morning.

But a couple of points into their first pool play match with Texas Wesleyan, the Jimmies' stomachs started to settle down.

"It was really nice to get that one under our belt," UJ head coach Jon Hegerle said. "I thought our team really served well and defended well and I think that really got under Texas Wesleyan's skin."

UJ started out the opening day at the 2021 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Volleyball Tournament with a sweep of Texas Wesleyan. The 8:30 a.m. match saw the Jimmies top the Rams 26-24, 25-19, 25-19. The Jimmies are slated to face Indiana Wesleyan Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

The Jimmies started out their second national tournament in seven months with Jackie Meiklejohn serving up her 35th ace of the season. The 1-0 advantage quickly turned into an 8-4 lead. Five of the Jimmies' first eight points came from behind the back line. The Jimmies typically average 1.58 aces per set.

"We thought that we could really gain an edge if we won that serving-passing game," Hegerle said. "Jackie is such a tough server so it is nice to have her serve right away and get some aces right away."

Meiklejohn is currently leading the entire NAIA in aces with 36. The 2021-22 season marks the senior's best season from the back line, her next closest being last season when she collected 31 aces.

UJ was a perfect 32-0 entering the national tourney. Texas Wesleyan was one of the teams the Jimmies had beaten earlier in the season, back on Sept. 3. The top-ranked team came out as explosive as ever with kills from Kalli Hegerle and Jayla Ritter, testing the Rams' defense. Texas Wesleyan had five reception errors early on, mistakes that helped to put the Jimmies within four points of ending the set.

But as coach Hegerle has said before, no team gets to a national tournament by accident.

"When we swept them earlier in the season they were missing two of their best players," Hegerle said. "My concern was that we would take them a little bit too lightly and so we watched a lot of film and prepared quite well for them. We knew that they were a really good team and they are playing really good volleyball."

Texas Wesleyan made things interesting down the stretch, forcing a few Jimmie attack errors that fueled an 8-2 run that forced Hegerle to call a timeout.

Nyia Anderson was the Rams' leading attacker, managing to put nine down on the Jimmie defense. Veronika Webb got surpassed by some of her other teammates in the number of kills produced, but the 6-foot middle was hitting at a team-high of .462. As a team, the Rams hit at .209 through the match.

"I thought that first part of the first set was a little too easy," Hegerle said. "I think they started to play to their capabilities and it kind of snuck up on us. We made some uncharacteristic errors that really helped them but that was a good thing for us because we really needed to get going."

Up 23-20, Anna Holen let one lose on the outside to make it match point. The Rams forced four set points of the Jimmies, tying it up at 24. A kill by Ritter and an attack error on Nyia Anderson sealed the deal for UJ.

The Rams undoubtedly had a bad taste in their mouths after losing out on an extra-points, first set victory but their composure was not lost completely. While they found themselves down by seven early, the team was patient, capitalizing on their attacks and the Jimmies' errors.

The once seven-point lead dwindled down to one before a 3-0 spurt, helped largely by a pair of attack errors, made it 19-15 Jimmies.

UJ kept the streak going, bursting out with a few points here and a few there. Hegerle commended Ellie Holen's performance in the back row. The sophomore libero was diving all over the back half of the court and managed to pop up 20 balls to help keep the Jimmies in system down the stretch.

Senior setter Megan Gaffaney took one of those digs and sent it over to Huff, who launched herself past the block to put it down from the middle.

The Rams shot their shot at a come-from-behind effort in the third, racing out to a 2-0 start and while the score was knotted up four times in the first six points, UJ had no intention of letting the third slip into extra points or away completely.

A double-block effort by Taylor Sabinash and Ritter put the Jimmies up 8-6. Kills from Gaffaney and Ritter kept the Jimmies in front by two, up until UJ's offense got going and the point-scoring plays started to take hold. Another bullet from Huff in the middle put the Jimmies up 16-9.

While Ruby O'Brien managed a pair of aces on Holen and Aleah Zieske to make the score 17-12, Sabinash avenged her teammates with a bullet-like kill down the right sideline. The senior out of Kensal, N.D., ended up with six kills and was hitting at a monstrous .750.

After Sabinash made it 18-13, Hannah Schiele picked on O'Brien on the next serve, acing the service specialist. The points kept falling for UJ and the Jimmies soon found themselves up 23-17.

Corina Huff notched the Jimmies' last two points, spinning the ball past the Rams' block and sending just out of reach of the back three. Huff was the Jimmies kill leader, tallying 13. The Jimmies hit .412 in the third set.

"Both Jayla and Corina both just dominated their middles and that was no small feat because Texas Wesleyan has two of the best middles in the nation and our middles took it to them," Hegerle said. "I am really proud of how they did that."

As a team, the Jimmies were held to .262 for the match, a bit below their .304 average largely due to the Rams holding UJ to .118 in the opening set. Hegerle said that looking ahead toward Indiana Wesleyan — and the rest of the tournament — the Jimmies will have to continue to be the aggressor on offense.

"They are very well-coached, very talented so we know that we will have our work cut for us with them but it will be the philosophy," Hegerle said. "When we are the aggressor, things really go well for us."

University of Jamestown 3, Texas Wesleyan 0

UJ 26 25 25

TW 24 19 19

UJ — Kills: Corina Huff 13, Jayla Ritter 10, Anna Holen 8, Taylor Sabinash 6, Kalli Hegerle 6, Aleah Zieske 4, Megan Gaffaney 3, Jackie Meiklejohn 1. Assists: Meiklejohn 22, Gaffaney 18. Digs: Ellie Holen 20, Anna Holen 13, Hannah Schiele 5, Averi Beyer 3, Hegerle 3, Sabinash 3, Zieske 2, Meiklejohn 2, Gaffaney 1, Ritter 1, Huff 1. Aces: A. Holen 4, E. Holen 3, Meiklejohn 2, Schiele 1. Blocks: Huff 3, Sabinash 2, Ritter 1, Hegerle 1, Zieske 1.

TW — Nyia Anderson 9, Bailey Foy, Arianna Alvarado 6, Veronika Webb 6, Sydney Charlton 5, Morgan Burns 2. Assists: Burns 31, Skylar Wade 2. Digs: Warde 17, Andrea Malek 10, Anderson 10, Burns 9, Alvarado 1, Webb 1, Charlton 1, Ruby O'Brien 1, Emily Brooks 1. Aces: O'Brien 2. Blocks: Foy 5, Webb 3, Alvarado 2, Charlton 2, Burns 2, Anderson 1.