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Two Wins Away

Jayhawks Go 9-0 In Pool Play To Advance To Semifinals

Jamestown Community College’s Kendyl Austin (11) and MacKenzie Marsh (10) go up for a block against Herkimer CC on Saturday at the Physical Education Complex. P-J photo by Mark L. Anderson

The Jamestown Community College women’s volleyball team was tried and tested during pool play at the NJCAA Region 3 Division III Championships at the Physical Education Complex on Saturday — and heading into today’s finals they are undeniably true.

Extending its win streak to 29 games, Jamestown CC lived up to it’s No. 1 seed in Pool A, rolling past No. 8 Herkimer Community College (25-15, 25-8, 25-9), No. 5 Monroe Community College (26-24, 25-12, 25-18) and No. 4 Erie Community College (24-14, 25-21, 29-27) with three consecutive three-game sweeps to earn a semifinal date with Pool B No. 2 Fulton Montgomery at 11 a.m. today.

If those three unbeaten performances were not enough of a statement about just how good the Jayhawks have been this year, the day’s action began with sophomore SallyAnne Rudny earning her second consecutive Region 3 Player of the Year award and coach Ashley Lund earning Coach of the Year honors as well.

Those are some impressive results for a roster of just seven players and a coaching staff that includes two parents of young children.

“It’s a well-deserved recognition of her body of work that continues through her tenure here. It doesn’t matter if she has a full roster or a roster of seven,” said Keith Martin, Jamestown CC director of athletics. “Her intensity, her competitiveness, what she brings to the girls in mentoring them, ends up being the result that she gets to be named Coach of the Year. Whether she gets that award or not, she’s coach of the year every year. We’re very fortunate to have her for all these years and it’s a well-deserved honor, but we know we have a special person in Ashley and we don’t need a piece of paper or an award to know that.”

Above, Jamestown Community College’s SallyAnne Rudny goes up for a spike during the Jayhawks’ match against Herkimer CC on Saturday during the NJCAA Region 3 Diviision III volleyball championships at the Physical Education Complex. P-J photo by Mark L. Anderson

While Lund has worked hard to make sure that her seven-player roster has had every opportunity to succeed, the Jayhawks’ unquestioned leader on the court has been Rudny.

The team’s only sophomore certainly lived up to her latest award on Saturday, ending three matches with eight aces, 37 kills and 43 digs.

“Couldn’t be more proud, just so happy for her,” Lund said of Rudny. “I know how our region is sometimes and they don’t like to give the Player of the Year twice in a row. I don’t remember the last time that happened. She deserves every bit of it and I couldn’t be happier with what she has done this year for our team and for herself as a player and how she has expanded.”

Joining Rudny on the Region 3 First Team was former Southwestern teammate Sierra Wells while another Trojans alumn, Kendyl Austin, was named to the Third Team.

Karly Kearns of Onondaga Community College was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

Jamestown's Kendyl Austin celebrates a point. P-J photo by Mark L. Anderson

Despite the fact that Lund was looking for improvement out of her team following the Jayhawks’ first win of the day against Herkimer CC, Jamestown CC rarely struggled in the opening three games against the Generals.

“Our serving in the first game wasn’t great,” Lund said of a 25-15 set to start the day. “We still need improvement, we need to up our level of intensity and all that because Monroe and Erie are hard-hitting teams. We didn’t get the ball hit on us much so, I like to start off a game with three wins and have that, but … that makes me nervous for going into a harder set match.”

Leading a balanced offensive attack for the Jayhawks against Herkimer CC was Wells, who finished the opening match with an ace, 31 assists, a kill, 11 digs and two blocks.

After an hour break the Jayhawks returned to the court against Monroe CC, with a 26-24 first game offering the greatest challenge of that meeting.

The opening frame against the Tribunes featured plenty of back-and-forth action, with a Rudny dig and a block by Austin helping to pull the Jayhawks back to even at 15-15 just past the midway point.

In the end it was a pair of errors by Monroe CC and a Rudny kill that sealed the opening game in favor of the hosts, and from there on out Jamestown CC had little trouble despite the strong defending of the Tribunes.

“Every time that we have played Monroe they dig our balls. They make good plays, they do all that kind of stuff,” Lund said.

Luckily the Jayhawks were able to respond with some big defensive plays of their own in the day’s middle match, thanks to some stellar digs from Austin.

“Yeah she had some great digs, unfortunately I think a couple of those we weren’t able to rebound off of, we botched that,” Lund said of her freshman middle hitter. “She’s done a phenomenal job for us in the back row, for not really playing strong defense in the back row that was something she really wanted to work on and she’s come a long long way and been crucial for us on defense.”

While it was Erie CC that offered Jamestown CC its strongest test of the day, once again the Jayhawks proved resilient in the face of offensive pressure and a short bench.

“It’s not the worst thing, I think we were fatigued, I think we were tired,” Lund said. “Just the anticipation of the day and then the day itself with the playing and sitting and playing and sitting, that’s just a lot on everybody. To have to fight a little bit, I don’t think it’s the worst thing. I think Sunday is the easier day because you have more room for error, you have five games to go and you can err and have a bad set and not worry about that affecting (your chances).”

The Jayhawks will look to continue their success today against Fulton-Montgomery while Onondaga CC will face off against Monroe CC, with the winners meeting for a 1 p.m. final match.

NOTES: MacKenzie Marsh’s night ended with three aces, 14 kills and 16 digs. … Austin finished with three aces, 16 kills, 26 digs and six blocks. … Wells seven aces, 82 assists, five kills, 23 digs and three blocks. … Kaylin Brumagin totaled six kills and five blocks. … Tara Sweeney added four aces, 10 kills, two assists, 16 digs and one block.

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