Jamestown finishes regular season at 16-2

Nov. 5—MANDAN — Jamestown High School head volleyball coach Sara Hegerle wants more out of her team.

“Knowing how well (Mandan) is coached — Anna (Folk) is doing a great job,” Hegerle said in an interview with Jamestown’s 107.1 FM. “They are gritty, they fight hard for points. … when do we get to the point with our team though when we just pick it up and take it to teams? They are a good team, I am not taking that away from them honestly, but I just feel like we’re not reaching our potential yet. I hope that in a week, we will be there.”

While it wasn’t the most dominant match by the Blue Jays, the team did finish the regular season with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-16 sweep of Mandan on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Blue Jays are set to enter the West Region Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The WDA Tournament will be held at Jamestown High School Nov. 12-14.

Mandan had a five-point lead on Jamestown in the opening set before the Jays locked in and came back to tie it at 14 points.

“We talked on the bench about how we need to defend more aggressively,” Hegerle said. “We’re letting balls drop or we’re not in a good position or balls that we should be digging are going off our arms because we are moving or we’re not in the right position or we’re just being lazy. Tomorrow we are going to spend a lot of time working on defense. That has to be our strength. It almost always has been but the last couple of matches we’re kind of going through the motions.

Hegerle said she suspects part of the reason the Jays may be missing some plays is because of a lack of intensity during the entirety of the match.

“A team that is goofing off on the court is not going to win a state championship,” Hegerle said. “You can be lighthearted and intense and I didn’t see the intensity tonight all the time but when I did, they really were good.”

Jamestown got the intensity going in the third set with a big 10-2 run that was anchored by junior middle blocker Claire Marker. The junior ended her night as Jamestown’s leading attacker with 14 kills.

“She works hard, she has a great attitude and she’s someone who is such a difference maker on our team on and off the court,” Hegerle said.

Lucy Falk and Amelia Newman also cracked into double digits in attacks with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Hannah Attleson dished out 41 assists and Newman was the leader in the back row with 19 digs.

Hegerle is hopeful that her team will continue working hard and putting up big scores against teams at next week’s tournament.

“There are no guarantees when you get to West Region,” Hegerle said. “I sincerely hope our Jamestown folks come out and support these guys because home court advantage is a real thing and I think our kids really thrive off of it.”

Jamestown 3, Mandan 0

JHS 25 25 25

MAN 22 23 16

JHS — Kills: Claire Marker 14, Lucy Falk 11, Amelia Newman 10, Morgan Scott 6, Claire Iverson 4, Aylexes Walch 2, Hannah Attleson 1. Assists: Attleson 41, Adisyn Yunck 1. Digs: Newman 19, Attleson 14, Yunck 14, Falk 11, Quinn Biloff 8, Marker 3, Scott 2, Walch 2, Milan Martin 1. Aces: Attleson 2, Falk 1. Blocks: Attleson 1, Marker 1, Newman 1.

MAN — Stats not immediately available.