Jimmies men's volleyball get five set win over Dordt

Feb. 3—JAMESTOWN — In their third match of the season, the University of Jamestown showed off their ability to win despite shooting themselves in the foot with multiple errors. The Jimmies got a five-set win (25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 28-30, 15-13) on Friday, Feb. 3, at Harold Newman Arena.

"This is what the guys needed going into the season forward," Jimmies head coach Travers Cox said. "It was a good tough battle right there at the beginning of the season to say, 'hey we gotta work on some things to be even better to be prepared for the next team and the team after that.' We just take it one match at a time."

Early in the first set, the Defenders (2-1, 2-1) cut the Jimmies' lead to 8-7 before an Ever Cancel kill pushed the Jimmies' lead out to 9-7. That started an 8-0 run to push the Jimmies' lead out to 14-7. The Defenders attempted to fight back cutting the deficit to 16-11 but the Jimmies (3-0, 3-0) had too much winning the set 25-16.

The second set saw the Defenders take multiple big leads and the Jimmies fight back to tie it up but the Jimmies eventually ran out of time. The Defenders took an early 11-8 lead before the Jimmies tied it up at 12. The Defenders responded by pushing the lead out to 20-16 before the Jimmies fought back again to tie it up at 22. But the Defenders were able to get the set win when Caleb Kuleza smashed a kill down to give his team the 25-23 set win.

The third set saw the Jimmies tremendously cut down on the service errors as they had three compared to 14 through the first two sets. The Jimmies were down 10-8 before going on a 4-1 run to take a 12-11 lead. The Jimmies appeared to be sailing to a third set win from there as an Ever Cancel block pushed the lead out to 21-16, forcing a Defenders timeout. But the timeout changed the set as the Defenders fought back to cut the deficit to 21-19, drawing a Jimmies timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Jimmies' Oguzhan Oguz got a kill to push the lead out to 22-19 but the Defenders fought back to cut the deficit to 23-22. The Jimmies managed to head into the fourth set up two sets to one thanks to a 25-22 third set win.

The fourth set was a battle as there were 11 ties and four lead changes. The Jimmies took a 15-14 lead before the Defenders tied the game up and never gave the lead up again. The biggest lead for either team in the set was

"It was a huge, huge blessing to see them keep embracing each other," Defenders head coach Chad Hanson said. "That's something we've been working through the course of this season and even in the off-season, to trust each other and really depend on each other. So, that's one of my biggest takeaways from this, a gritty, hard-fought match."

In the fifth set, both teams used their timeouts as the Defenders called their first one down 10-8. The Jimmies called their first one up 11-10 and it worked as they stretched the lead out to 13-11, forcing the Defenders to use their final timeout. The Jimmies won the match when Caylor Cox rose up and smashed a ball down causing the Jimmies bench to sprint onto the floor and the senior to explode with excitement.

Despite battling through soreness for much of the last three sets, the Jimmies' Downey Huynh was able to get a career-high 24 kills. Huynh said after his first swing of the match went into the net he was encouraged to continue by Caylor Cox.

"I just gotta thank my teammates," Huynh said. "They're the ones that set everything up, their passing, their setting. I'm just thankful my teammates kept supporting me when I made errors. "

The Jimmies are back in action at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, when they host Saint Ambrose.

DU 2, UJ 3

DU: 16 25 22 30 13 — 2

UJ: 25 23 25 28 15 — 3

Kills leaders:

DU: Caleb Kulesza 17, Brady Frost 14, Andres Guzman 13

UJ: Downey Huynh 24, Oguzhan Oguz 20, Caylor Cox 16

Assists leaders:

DU: Lukas Van Groningen 45, Robert Piekarz 1, Luke Nelson 1, Frost 1, Guzman 1

UJ: Derek Correa 57, Adam Lopata 4, Ever Cancel 1, Cox 1

Aces leaders:

DU: Piekarz 2, Guzman 2, Kulesza 1

UJ: Christian Gulak 2, Oguz 2, Lopata 1, Cancel 1, Huynh 1, Cox 1