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Jayhawks Finish Seventh At Volleyball Nationals

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Down two sets to none at the NJCAA Division III volleyball championships Saturday, Jamestown Community College wasn’t about to get swept in its final action of the season.

The Jayhawks dug deep and rallied to beat Jefferson CC for the third time this season 22-25, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-9 and wrap up seventh place in the country at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.

The Cannoneers built up their lead in the first two sets with the help of some Jamestown CC mistakes. The Jayhawks committed nine attack errors in the first-set loss and followed that up with 11 attack errors in their second-set loss.

“It was not looking good,” Jamestown CC head coach Ashley Lund said. “We had some very costly errors and were really struggling to put the ball in bounds.”

In the third set, Jamestown CC had 16 kills against just five errors; in the fourth set they had 15 kills to just four errors; and in the shortened fifth set they had six kills to just one error.

“It’s not often that you can end a season with a win,” Lund said. “We just said ‘let’s just finish this strong. … Let’s do this one final time together and go out on a high note.'”

Sophomore Jenna Caskey, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, led the Jayhawks on the afternoon with 18 kills and 18 digs to go along with four aces. Sophomore Karleigh Haines had 14 kills and 12 digs; sophomore Emma Wirsen had 17 digs and six aces; sophomore Maddy Russo had 49 assists; and sophomore Cameryn Hawkins had 16 digs.

“This year is one of my bigger classes of sophomores so it seems like a bigger blow,” Lund said about her team’s final match together. “Every single sophomore was a huge part of what we did this year. Everyone is a standout, but when you lose people like Caskey, Hawkins and Russo … it’s the name of the game and what everyone has to go through.”

Owens CC won the national title later Saturday with a 25-12, 25-17, 25-20 sweep of Columbus State CC.

NOTES: Jamestown CC was given the Sportsmanship Award for the tournament. … Brookhaven College won the third-place match 25-13, 20-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-11 over Rochester Community and Technical College while Central Lakes College-Brainerd beat Harper College 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 28-26 in the fifth-place match.

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