ST. PAUL, MN – For a time Tuesday, Jamestown Jimmies Women’s Volleyball had a chance to pull off one of the season’s most shocking upsets in the NSIC and in all of NCAA Division II.  But a program used to coming through at this time of the season did so again.

Second seed and 10th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul took a two-set lead, saw the seventh seed Jimmies come back to force a fifth set, then won in five 25-17, 25-19, 30-32, 11-25, 15-8 in a thrilling NSIC Tournament quarterfinal at the Gangelhoff Center.  It was UJ’s first postseason appearance in any sport since the move up to NCAA Division II and the NSIC.

Jamestown native Makenna Nold led CSP (23-6) with 22 kills, 15 digs, two aces, a solo block and a block assist.  Julia Gordon had 12 kills.

Gracie Adamson had 18 kills and 11 digs for Jamestown (19-10).  Addison Ertz scored a career-high 17 kills (.267).  Charlotte Lempka matched her career-high with 15 kills (.407).  Ava Bertsch had 31 set assists.  Sophie Ketterling had 28 kills.

CSP started very quickly, taking a 13-3 lead in the first set, helped by five kills from Nold.  CSP led 22-10 before Lempka and Adamson each killed twice in a 6-1 run before the Golden Bears won the set.

The Jimmies stayed close through the second set, trailing just 19-18.  But Nold had four more kills for CSP in a 6-1 run to end the set.

Tight, high-level volleyball was featured in the third set.  Neither team led by more than two points, with extra volleyball needed.  Jamestown had set points at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26 but CSP rallied each time.  CSP then had match point at 28-27 before a kill by the Jimmies’ Kyleigh Schopp.  Again, the Golden Bears had match point at 29-28 before Ertz killed.  CSP led 30-29 before Jamestown tied on a kill by Ertz, took a 31-30 lead on a CSP attack error, then took the set on an ace by Ertz.

Set three began with a 3-3 tie before Jamestown scored seven of the next eight points, featuring two Adamson kills and an ace by Ketterling.  CSP moved within 17-11 before the Jimmies scored the next eight points, including three kills by Lempka, two by Ertz and those two combining on a block, to force a fifth set.

Then, CSP, a program with nine national championships, recovered.  They led the fifth set 9-4, helped by kills by Kelsey Cooper, Mehlayna Straub and Nold.  Ertz killed for Jamestown to cut the home team’s lead to 12-8 before CSP scored the last three points to end the match and the Jimmies’ upset hopes.