Jamestown, N.D. – fifth seed and sixth nationally ranked Dakota Wesleyan falls to the second nationally ranked Jamestown in the conference semifinal match for the second year in a row.
The Quick Details
Score:
#6 DWU 0 - #2 UJ 3 (19-25, 21-25, 19-25)
Records:
#6 DWU 22-7
#2 UJ 30-2
How It Happened
The No. 6 Tigers and No. 2 Jimmies stayed close in the opening set from Harrold Newman Arena in the GPAC Semifinal match Wednesday evening. After UJ opened things up with a 3-0 lead over DWU, the Tigers came storming back, to tie the game at 6-6 with kills from Ady Dwight, Abigail Brunsing and Mariah Gloe, while Hanna Reiff served an ace. Now, while Dakota Wesleyan never secured the lead in the opening set of the match, they were able to hold the University of Jamestown's lead to a few points. Mackenzie Miller put DWU back within two points of the lead, 8-10 on a kill, followed by a UJ kill and another kill by Dwight to still trail by two, 9-11. The Jimmies quickly pushed their lead out to six points after that, targeting only two attackers for their four points before Dwight cut the run and bringing DWU within five points, 10-15. Miller put DWU within four points, 16-20 later in the set making it the closest they got down the stretch to knotting the game. The Jimmies took the opening set of the GPAC Semifinals 25-19 over the Tigers.
In the second set, DWU got off and running with a quick 2-0 lead on a pair of kills from Dwight. The second set was close through the first portion as neither team was able to secure a lead greater than one or two points. As Jamestown led by one point, 8-7; they stacked on four more points before Abigail Brunsing ended the run and trailing by four, 8-12. Dakota Wesleyan came up big as they trailed by five points, when Miller and Dwight connected for a block, taking some energy out of Harrold Newman Arena. The block wasn't enough though as the Tigers were unable to close the margin against the Jimmies even though DWU held UJ to their lowest hitting percentage of the evening. The Tigers not had to battle from behind two sets to none after a 21-25 second set loss.
The Third set, fifth seed DWU and first seed UJ both hit their best all night. The Tigers made a push right away opening the set with a 5-1 run to lead by four. The Jimmies quickly dropped the margin to a two-point Tiger advantage, but DWU grabbed a kill from Brunsing pushing it back to three points. Continuing to hold a two-point lead, 8-6 over top seed and second ranked team in the nation of the University of Jamestown, a critical attacking error from the Tigers followed by a UJ service ace and kill, set DWU behind 9-8. Miller was able to tie the score at 9-9 on the next rally while Gloe recorded a service ace to put Dakota Wesleyan back on top by one, 10-9. Jamestown knotted the score once again on the following rally, setting up another four-point run to lead by three over Dakota Wesleyan, 13-10. The small UJ runs continued to put DWU behind as the next four-point run sent the Jimmies to a six-point lead. Gloe and Emily Dale each tallied a kill, then connected for a block pushing DWU back to only a three-point deficit, 20-17. The University of Jamestown continued to hold their lead at the third set ended with the Jimmies securing a 25-19 win and the 3-0 match win over the Tigers. This marks the second year in a row the Tigers have been knocked out of the GPAC tournament by the Jimmies.
Overall, DWU hit .125 percent while UJ hit .261 percent as a team. Dwight led the Tigers with 18 kills and a team high .364 hitting percentage. With Dwight's 18 kill performance she eclipsed 500 kills this season. Miller followed adding seven kills. Madeline Else recorded 32 assists and nine digs, Dale had a strong night at the net with a team high three blocks. Tya Weideman, Gloe, and Hanna Reiff all recorded double-digit digs with 15, 14, and 13, respectively.
Up Next
No. 6 Tiger volleyball will now await their fate for the NAIA Women's Volleyball Selection show on Monday, November 14 at 10 a.m., more information on how to watch the selection show will be coming in the following days on the website at dwuathletics.com, the DWU Tigers App, and on twitter and facebook.