Jimmies win in five over OLLU at Alamo City Vollyesta

SAN ANTONIO, Texas-- The University of Jamestown women's volleyball team began the 2023 season by splitting a pair of matches Friday at the Alamo City Volleyesta, hosted by Our Lady of the Lake University.

After being swept by Texas Wesleyan, the Jimmies rebounded with a five-set victory over the host Saints to even their record at 1-1.

UJ will play two more matches on Saturday, taking on Bellevue (Neb.) at 10:00 AM and Loyola at 3:00 PM.

Texas Wesleyan 3, Jamestown 0

The Jimmies hit just .082 while making 23 errors against the Rams. Grace Hegerle, Darienne Johnson, and Logan Sherman each had six kills for UJ. Paige Oswald (12) and Tenley Buddenhagen (10) combined for 22 of Jamestown's 32 assists. Defensively, Ellie Holen led the way with 15 digs while Hegerle had 13. Johnson finished with three total blocks, including a pair of solo blocks.

Jamestown 3, Our Lady of the Lake 2

UJ took a narrow 25-22 win in set one against the Saints, then pushed the match lead to 2-0 after a convincing 25-13 win in set two. OLLU avoided the sweep with a 25-19 victory and forced a decisive fifth set after at 25-22 victory in the fourth.

Back-to-back kills by Grace Hegerle and Aleah Zieske put the Jimmies ahead 5-3, then OLLU reeled off five straight points to take an 8-5 lead. A Saint service error broke the run, but OLLU earned the point back with a kill to make it 9-6.

That would be the final point for the home team as UJ closed the match on a 9-0 run. Lexi Olson had three kills and Logan Sherman added two more, including the match-clincher. Jamestown hit .300 for the set with eight kills on 20 attempts.

Olson hit .333 with 13 kills and Sherman hit .250 on 11 kills. Zieske finished with eight kills and Darienne Johnson hit a team-high .417 with seven kills on 12 attempts.

Tenley Buddenhagen passed out 23 assists and had nine digs, while Paige Oswald added 21 assists. Ellie Holen had 36 digs and Olson finished with five solo blocks.