Oct. 13—BISMARCK, N.D. — Jamestown High School head volleyball coach Sara Hegerle didn't know what she was walking into Tuesday night.
"I had no idea what to expect," Hegerle said in an interview with Jamestown 107.1 FM. "I have been nervous all day — bringing Claire (Marker) back, changing our lineup, not knowing if something is the right decision or the wrong decision — ... but we circled the wagons tonight and defended our team."
The Blue Jays downed Legacy 25-19, 27-25, 25-20 to improve to 12-1 in the Western Dakota Association. Jamestown's next game on the schedule is set for Thursday at Bismarck High — a team the Jays beat three weeks ago and one they fell to twice last weekend.
Jamestown lead 13-9 in the opening set but Legacy went on a 6-0 run to make it 15-13 lead in favor of the Sabers. A 12-4 run finished it off for the Blue Jays.
"We really started well," Hegerle said. "We passed and served the way we wanted to and we didn't do that so much this weekend. I was a little apprehensive of how we would come out today but I was really impressed with how tough we served.
"(Legacy) was out of system a lot and they weren't running balls wherever they wanted to swing from and that had a lot to do with our aggressive serving. We did a lot of good things but it starts there."
Jamestown finished the game with six aces.
A 4-0 run helped the Jays establish a 16-10 lead in the second set but Legacy scored three straight to cut the Jays lead to three points. Jamestown got the side-out on a missed serve to go up 17-13 then Milan Martin aced the Sabers to go up five points on the home team.
Legacy went on a 7-2 run to put the score at 20-19 Jamestown. Marker got the Jays up to a 21-19 lead, followed by an error on the next two points to make it a 4-0 run for Jamestown.
That's when things got interesting.
Legacy fought back to make it 24-23 Legacy but the Sabers had no answers for Lucy Falk. The Blue Jay senior scored four of the next five points to end it 27-25.
"I told Hannah (Attleson), 'at the end of the match, give it to Lucy,'" Hegerle said. "Lucy will take her team on her back. She wants the ball. She might get blocked a couple of times but she's not going to get blocked the whole day. ... She was a big force for us today."
Falk ended the night with 17 kills while Claire Marker was responsible for eight kills in her first match back in a few weeks due to a shoulder injury.
"She's been kind of practicing off and on, she practiced yesterday, she comes in to serve and hits balls off of the box but just having her back, the whole town of Jamestown should be happy, and I am guessing the rest of the state isn't," Hegerle said of Marker.
"She'll find her groove," she said. "She didn't feel like she contributed that much but honestly, she's just going to keep getting better."
Attleson ended the night with 31 assists while Adisyn Yunck anchored things in the back row with 17 digs. There were four players — Yunck, Amelia Newman, Falk and Attleson — in double figures with digs.
Legacy's Brooklyn Pudwill had eight kills to lead the way. Sammy Watson finished with 17 digs. One of the bright spots for the Sabers was its net defense. The squad had eight blocks. Marlee Falcon and Finley Fettig each had two.
"We played with a good game plan, we stuck with it and it was real effective," Hegerle said.
Jamestown 3, Legacy 0
JHS 25 27 25
LEG 19 25 20
JHS — Kills: Lucy Falk 17, Claire Marker 8, Morgan Scott 5, Allexys Walch 4, Amelia Newman 3. Assists: Hannah Attleson 31, Newman 2, Lily Schulz 1. Digs: Adisyn Yunck 17, Attleson 16, Newman 14, Falk 11, Walch 5, Martin 5, Scott 3, Marker 2, Quinn Biloff 2, Marker 2, Schulz 1. Aces: Yunck 2, Falk 2, Milan Martin 1, Newman 1. Blocks: Falk 3, Attleson 2, Marker 1, Walch 1.
LEG — Kills: Brooklyn Pudwill 8, Gracie Watson 6. Assists: Claire Brendel 13, Zoe Flemmer 9. Digs: Sammy Watson 17, Pudwill 9, Gracie Watson 9. Aces: Katelyn Deringer 2. Blocks: Finley Fettig 2, Marlee Falcon 2.