There was no mistaking the look of defeat present in senior libero Jessie Kongelf's eyes following the Minot High School volleyball team's West Region loss to Jamestown on Friday.
MHS errors were contagious in a 3-0 defeat (25-21, 25-10, 25-14) at Magic City Campus, a match the Majettes never looked comfortable in.
"One person would make a mistake and then they'd get upset, causing another person to get upset and make mistakes," Kongelf said. "It just kept building and snowballing."
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Daniel Allar/MDN
Minot High School seniors Aubrey Wunderlich, left, and Morgan Milbrath block Jamestown’s Billie Buchanan during a match Friday at Magic City Campus.
Minot (10-11 overall, 2-6 region) held 16-12 and 18-16 leads in game one, but the streaky play that has plagued the Majettes all season struck again in the frame. MHS gave up four runs of at least four points in what was otherwise its best game.
Jamestown (15-5, 8-2) took control of the second game early by jumping out to a 15-7 lead. The Blue Jays scored the frame's final eight points, thanks in part to several MHS miscues.
"We made a lot of mistakes early that we didn't recover from," MHS coach Ellen Jebens said.
The Blue Jays scored seven of game three's first nine points in another Jamestown rout. Jamestown has now beaten Minot twice without losing a game.
While Minot looked lost on certain plays Jamestown was efficient, using crisp passes and hard serves to keep the Majettes off-balance.
"I thought our passing and serving was excellent," Jamestown coach Sara Hagerle said. "We were able to stay in system and run a lot of offensive things because our passing was so good tonight."
MHS sophomore outside hitter Brooke Suko agreed with Hagerle's assessment.
"Our defense of our serve-receive was basically our main point of struggling," Suko said. "We could get a pass up, but it just basically wasn't a perfect pass. I think we struggled all around."
Suko had four kills and 14 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Sophie Bengson added a team-high 16 digs and senior middle hitter Alex Bolinske collected six kills to lead the Majettes.
Minot plays at Bismarck Century on Tuesday at 7 p.m.