Mike Kraft/MDN Minot High’s Everette Deschamp (11) and Hadlea Faul (28) attempt to block a shot from Jamestown’s Lucy Falk during a match at Magic City Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Minot High volleyball coach Jesse Goertzen had two timeouts per set at his disposal to use in the case where he needed to settle his team down or extinguish any momentum the opposition had generated after stringing together a run.

Goertzen kept those timeouts in his backpocket, never once asking for a stoppage because the Majettes at no point were rattled and Jamestown never once established any sort of momentum throughout the match.

Instead, the Majettes played one of their most complete matches, sweeping the Blue Jays, 25-15, 25-17, 25-15, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to take sole possession of second place in the West Region standings.

“Sets 1-3, that was consistent,” Goertzen said. “They had a fantastic effort from start to finish every set. I would say that was definitely up there with our most complete games of the year.”

With volleyball being a sport predicated on runs, the Majettes had plenty of their own while completely stymying anything the Blue Jays could put together. Minot’s largest run was six unanswered points, while Jamestown never ripped off more than three consecutive points, which came late in the opening set already trailing 19-9 and in the final moments of the third set when the Majettes were leading 22-12 on the verge of the sweep.

“Volleyball is a game of runs so when you can limit the other team’s runs, we know we’re going to have our runs and if we can limit theirs, we’re going to have a good chance every match,” Goertzen said.

The Majettes (8-5 overall, 6-1 West Region) didn’t wait long creating some separation in the opening set. With an early 5-4 advantage, Minot won 13 of the next 17 points to establish a sizable 18-8 lead. It was contributions by committee, with Kynsli Gillmore, Eve Knutson, Brooke Bedell and Everette Deschamp all contributing to the offense.

The Blue Jays (8-5, 5-2) never got closer than seven points the rest of the set and Bedell capped off the opening set with one of her team-high 11 kills of the match.

“It just really took a lot of work,” Bedell said. “We all worked well as a team and I’d say we all had a pretty good game. The teamwork all pulled through together and that’s how we carried out the win for tonight.”

Jamestown hung in a bit longer in the middle stanza, but not being able to establish any momentum eventually caused the Blue Jays to fade down the stretch. With all the momentum on the side of the Majettes, even a small advantage felt insurmountable and proved to be. After the Majettes grabbed a 10-6 lead on a kill by Gillmore, Minot started methodically building a bigger lead. The Majettes led by as many as eight points three separate times as Jamestown never got Minot’s advantage back under four.

“We always felt like we were behind and we were always trying to battle back, and battling back is tiring,” Jamestown coach Sara Hegerle said. “It felt off all night. I’m not going to spend a lot of time losing sleep over this. Just like when you have a big win, it’s just one night.”

Goertzen credits the defensive effort for the way the Majettes kept the Blue Jays at bay. Gillmore led Minot with 23 digs and Camdyn Varty added 17. As a team, the Majettes finished with 72 digs, with nine different players contributing to that total. They committed just three errors on defense.

“Our defense was phenomenal,” Goertzen said. “Our serve-receive was spectacular. We gave our hitters a chance to continually put pressure on the other team and we executed well on offense. I told the girls every facet of the game we did at a high level today, so it was a good win.”

The Blue Jays had just one ace in the match.

The Majettes didn’t make many mistakes on defense, and they didn’t make many mistakes on offense either. They committed just five attack errors and three service errors. Jamestown had five service errors.

“It started slow, it ended slow and the middle was slow,” Hegerle said. “Minot didn’t make any mistakes. I can’t even think of a hitting error they made. They played pretty error-free volleyball and we didn’t put a lot of pressure on them. Minot just played a good game.”

Minot quickly ended any hopes the Blue Jays had at mounting a comeback, scoring 11 of the first 13 points in the final set. Jamestown wouldn’t get closer than eight points the rest of the way, again being unable to establish any type of momentum. Bedell had four kills in the third set.

“Our offense did what it needed to,” Goertzen said. “I know Brooke had a good front row, offensive match, but all around our defense didn’t give them a chance. We got touches on everything. We got solid digs on all their hits. Our back row and our serve-receive is what stood out to me.”

Jamestown’s Lucy Falk finished with a match-high 17 kills and had her team’s lone ace.

The Majettes travel to Dickinson on Thursday, Sept. 25, for an 8 p.m. match.