Men's volleyball defeats Mount Mercy in NAIA National pool play

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa-- The ninth-ranked University of Jamestown men's volleyball team opened pool play at the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship with a four-set victory over Mount Mercy (Iowa) Wednesday evening at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: #9 Jamestown 3, #14 Mount Mercy 1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-14, 25-13)
Records: #9 Jamestown 21-1, #14 Mount Mercy 24-10
Location: Alliant Energy PowerHouse | Cedar Rapids, Iowa

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

• Caydann Cox—11 kills, .320 hitting percentage, 7 digs, 3 aces
• Caylor Cox—10 kills, .333 hitting percentage, 9 digs, 3 blocks
• Tysen Myers—5 kills, .667 hitting percentage, 8 blocks
• Gaven Hackley—14 assists, 6 kills, 5 digs
• Gabriel Ocasio—10 assists, 7 digs
• Sebastian Ignaczak—6 digs, 5 assists

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Despite being outhit .219 to .172 in the first set, Jamestown never trailed in a 25-19 win.
• UJ opened with the first five points and eventually built a 10-3 lead. Mount Mercy got as close as 11-9 but three straight and five of the next six put the Jimmies comfortably ahead by six.
• Mount Mercy had one more rally late in the first to get within 18-15 only to have Jamestown respond with four in a row to rebuild a seven-point advantage.
• The Mustangs were in the driver's seat early in set two, taking an 8-2 lead after the first ten points.
• Down 12-6, UJ managed to tie the score with six straight, then after Mount Mercy ended the run, took a two point lead on back-to-back errors by the Mustangs.
• Mount Mercy took 12 of the final 18 points and tied the match at 1-1.
• The Jimmies trailed briefly in the third set (4-3) before reeling off eight of the next 11 points to take control.
• Jamestown won the last five points and nine of the last 11, finishing with their best hitting percentage of the match at .316, compared to (-.033) for Mount Mercy.
• A 10-1 start to the fourth set was more than enough for UJ, ending up with a 12-point victory to eliminate the Mustangs.
• Mount Mercy put together three straight points just once in the final set and had twice as many attack errors (12) as kills in the frame.
• Jamestown had its fewest kills of the entire match with eight, but still hit .250 as a team to finish at .225 for the match.

UP NEXT

• Jamestown takes on top-seeded The Master's (Calif.) Thursday at 7 p.m. in the final match of pool play. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Friday.