JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown University men's volleyball team enters the NAIA Men's Volleyball Championship with one goal in mind: to win it all.
The No. 8 seeded Jimmies will open the tournament on Wednesday, May 1 at 7 p.m., facing No. 9 seed Mt. Mercy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
One challenge the Mustangs may present to the Jimmies is that they have 25 players over 6 feet tall while the Jimmys have 19. To deal with their height, Jimmies head coach Travers Cox said he had to increase his team's speed. game.
“We're going to run the ball a little faster, be a little faster down the middle, be a little faster at the pin and see if that allows us to get a little more one-on-one combinations,” Travers-Cox said. “Then try attacking in your service game and see if you can get it out of the system a little more.”
On March 8, 2023, the Mustangs defeated the Jimmies in five sets. Jimmies senior Kaylor Cox said she expects this game to be much different than previous games.
“I think it's going to be a lot more pin heavy,” Kaylar Cox said. “What we've seen on film is that the pin is much heavier. So they rely a lot on the outside (Akeel Oxley), so the goal is to slow that guy down as much as possible. , probably making them rely on the middle a little bit more to beat us. If they serve tough and serve well, they should be pretty successful.”
Despite being a lower seed than expected, the Jimmies said they are doing well. Kaylar Cox said he and his teammates are motivated by the No. 8 seed heading into the tournament.
“It is what it is,” Kaylar Cox said. “It's a difficult position. It's pretty much the same place we go to every year. Every year we're put in a tough situation as the No. 1 seed. That's the reality. It gives us something. I just give you a chance to prove it.”
Travers-Cox said his hopes for the tournament are for the team to stay healthy and play well.
The Jimmies enter the tournament on a 13-game winning streak, tied with Masters University (Calif.) for the second-longest streak in the NAIA.
The Jimmies will conclude their pool play schedule on Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. against Masters, the overall top seed in the tournament.
This season, the Jimmies faced two teams that participated in the national tournament: University of Ottawa (Arizona) and St. Xavier University (Illinois). The Jimmies went 1-1 in those matches, defeating Ottawa in five sets and getting swept by St. Xavier. Travers said his team went to Poland instead of scheduling teams participating in the tournament.
“I would love to play more games in the Heartland (College Athletic Conference), GSAC (Golden State Athletic Conference) or Cal Pac (California Pacific Conference),” Travers-Cox said. Ta. “We would like to play more games locally, but that's difficult for us. We already have to travel seven to 11 hours to places. We've had to do that three times already. …But we… We did something different this year, we went to Poland. So we went to Poland instead and we all had a great time there.”
This year, Keilor has 135 kills, 112 assists, 24 aces and 162 digs. He said Keilor will have to play near-perfect volleyball to help the team advance.
“This week is the last time I'm going to practice here at Newman, so I'm going to come to the gym and Newman and give it my all before I go out,” Keillor said. here. So, not only myself, but I think a lot of other people have been thinking the same thing, last week or so, let's just go out on a limb and make it the best it can be. ”
Keillor said that while it would mean a lot to finish his career with a national championship, he knows he and his teammates will have to work hard to achieve that goal.
“I think it’s going to be special and incredible,” Keillor said.
Hello,
My name is Max O'Neill. I'm a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun. I'm a native New Yorker who graduated from Ithaca College in 2020 with a degree in Television and Radio.