Blue Jays stay competitive, drop in state tourney quarterfinals

Nov. 20—BISMARCK — The Jamestown High School volleyball team stunned Fargo Davies in the first set of the Class AA NDHSAA State Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

"We could have won in three," JHS head coach Sara Hegerle said in an postgame interview with Jamestown's 107.1 FM. "That's the part that hurts is that it was so close.

"... we had them right where we wanted them then we just had a couple bad decisions, a couple poorly-timed errors — it's so discouraging because you forget all of the good and now all of a sudden we're in the losers bracket and it changes the whole weekend in their minds," she said.

The Eagles defeated the Jays 22-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-13. The first-round loss puts the Jays in the consolation semifinals where they will face Bismarck High. First serve is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. on Friday.

After the Jays' stunning performance in the first, Davies began to find its stride.

A service area and attack error on the Jays gave Davies a 22-20 advantage in the second but the Jays responded quickly with a kill from Lucy Falk and a block from Hannah Attleson and Mari Anderson to even things up at 22.

Fallon Passanante and Sierra Reinke both scored to bring up set point for the Eagles. Davies hit the ball off the block to secure the set 25-22

Jamestown fell behind 9-4 in the third set but the team came back on a tear and managed to take a 20-16 lead over the Eagles. Davies scored three in a row to come within one but Amelia Newman got the Jays the sideout with her seventh kill of the set. Newman finished the match with 11 kills while Falk finished with 17.

Later, Ava Leingang capped off Davies' 4-1 run with the Eagles' sixth ace of the match. Leingang missed the next serve to give Jamestown the set-tying point.

While the Jays got to 24 first, it was the Eagles who won the necessary set point. Passanante secured her 9th, 10th and 11th kills of the set on the last three points.

"She's not a huge kid, she's not super tall but she jumps out of the gym, she doesn't make a lot of mistakes and she's running all over the court playing the ball," Hegerle said of the Fargo Davies' senior.

A win in the fourth set became a tall task for the Jays early on.

For one thing, Davies went on big 9-0 run to take a 21-9 lead.

For another, the Eagles had Passanante on their roster.

Falk gave the Jays the sideout on a kill of the block, Hannah Attleson secured an ace and the Jays made good on a error by the Eagles but the three-point run was too little too late. Passanante sealed the deal with her 29th kill of the evening.

"It could have gone either way tonight ... I think we represented our West (Region) well, thought we represented the town of Jamestown pretty well — I hope our town is proud of us," Hegerle said. "... I am not disappointed in our kids, I am just disappointed for our kids."

Fargo Davies 3, Jamestown 1

FD 22 25 26 25

JHS 25 22 24 13

FD — Kills: Fallon Passanante 29, Ava Leingang 9, Sierra Reinke 8, Jaelynn Jackson 6, Quinn Skari 5, Ava Bolton 3, Julia Nybakken 1, Katelyn Krenz 1. Assists: Skari 50, Jackson 2, Passanante 1, Bolton 1. Digs: Nybakken 11, Krenz 19, Sandvik 2, Jackson 6, Reinke 14, Passanante 21, Skari 4. Blocks: Olivia Sandvik 1. Aces: Krenz 5, Jackson 1, Passanante 1, Leingang 1.

JHS — Kills: Lucy Falk 17, Amelia Newman 11, Claire Marker 6, Mari Anderson 3, Hannah Attleson 2, Haley Attleson 2. Assists: Han. Attleson 22, Quinn Biloff 9, Jetta Peterson 4, Newman 1, Marker 1. Digs: Peterson 36, Han. Attleson 30, Falk, 20, Newman 15, Hal. Attleson, 9, Marker 7, Biloff 4, Anderson 4. Blocks: Anderson 4, Marker 2, Han. Attleson 2, Newman 1, Falk 1, Hal. Attleson 1. Aces: Hal. Attleson 2, Peterson 2, Anderson 2, Han. Attleson 1, Newman 1.