Jimmies men's volleyball get four-set win over Mount Mercy
May 1—CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. — The No. 8-seed University of Jamestown men's volleyball would not be denied as they got a four-set win over No. 9-seeded Mount Mercy University (25-19, 20-25, 25-14, 25-13) in the pool play round of the NAIA Men's Volleyball Championships on Wednesday, May 1, at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse.
The Jimmies have now won 14 matches in a row. Over that stretch, the Jimmies have won 42 of the 43 sets they've played.
"I think we're playing some really good volleyball," Jimmies head coach Travers Cox said. "I still think (we) have some room to be better still, believe it or not. I really do. I think we've got a little bit of room and if we're going to play well tomorrow and have a chance, we better play our absolute best tomorrow. We get one shot, this is it, one shot. We better play our best volleyball tomorrow. I still think we have some good volleyball to play. We haven't hit our full potential."
The Mustangs struggled with errors in their loss, with 32 attack errors, 22 service errors and four blocking errors. The Jimmies had 17 attack errors, nine service errors and two blocking errors.
The Jimmies (22-1) got off to a fast start, taking a 10-3 lead in the first set. The Mustangs were able to battle back to cut the deficit to 11-9, but the Jimmies responded by stretching their lead to 21-15, drawing a Mustangs timeout. The timeout did little to slow the No. 9-ranked Jimmies down, though, as they got a 25-19 opening set win.
The Mustangs flipped the script in the second set with a quick start. The Mustangs (24-10) opened the set on an 8-2 run before the Jimmies battled back to take a 14-13 lead. The Mustangs answered the Jimmies' run with one of their own, forcing the Jimmies into a timeout thanks to an 8-1 run to take a 21-15 lead. Out of the stoppage, the Mustangs were able to hang on to get a 25-20 second-set win.
The first 14 points of the third set were incredibly competitive as the teams were tied at seven. However, an error from the Mustangs gave the Jimmies an 8-7 lead and that was enough to kickstart a 9-3 run to take a 16-10 lead. The Mustangs got two back to make it a 16-12 game but the Jimmies would not be denied getting a 25-14 third-set win.
The Jimmies saw a win in their sights heading into the fourth set and they played like it galloping out to a 12-3 lead. The Mustangs cut the deficit to 13-7 but the Jimmies landed a haymaker with an 8-4 run to take a 21-11 lead. That was enough to see the GPAC champions get a 25-13 fourth-set win.
The Jimmies return to the court at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, when they take on The Master's University.
MMU 1, UJ 3
MMU: 19 25 14 13 — 1
UJ: 25 20 25 25 — 3
Kills leaders:
MMU: Colin Castelnau 13. Akeel Oxley 10, Alessandro Spendolini 6
UJ: Caydann Cox 11, Caylor Cox 10, Gaven Hackley 6
Assists leaders:
MMU: Rafael Vieyra 33, Johann Schopsdau 3, Castelnau 1, Oxley 1
UJ: Hackley 14, Gabriel Ocasio 10, Sebastian Ignaczak 5
Aces leaders:
MMU: Oxley 3, Vieyra 1
UJ: Cayd. Cox 3, Hackley 1
