Claire Iverson back in action, Jays win again

Oct. 27—JAMESTOWN — Claire Iverson has been riding the Jamestown High School volleyball bench the last few weeks."I went up to block and when I came down, I think I landed on a teammates foot," said Iverson, a sophomore for the Blue Jays. "I had my brace on, but I sprained my ankle."After three weeks of rest, ice, elevation and physical therapy exercises Iverson was deemed strong enough to play in the Blue Jays last home game of the season — a tilt against Minot.The Jays topped the Majettes 25-19, 25-23, 25-20 Tuesday night. Iverson and her teammates have two more games on the schedule before the West Region Tournament kicks off on Nov. 12. Jamestown is set to take on Bismarck Century on Thursday and will end with a road match against Mandan on Nov. 3."I felt pretty confident," Iverson said of coming back to play. "I got my first practice in yesterday and I felt great. It was so good. ... It's been three weeks ... I've done all of my exercises and things I need to do to get back so I was feeling confident — some nerves — but confident."The Majettes gave Jamestown a challenge early on, but the Jays settled in and stretched their lead to five points to bring up set point in the opening set. Lucy Falk ended the first with a smash to the sideline.The Blue Jays came back from a 5-1 deficit to take a 11-10 lead in the second. Tough serving and attacking kept the Majettes in it and the visitors managed to take a 22-18 lead. The Blue Jays got the side-out on a missed serve. Another error by Minot made it a two-point game which was soon a one-point lead as Falk scored on a back row attack.Everette Deschamp got her team a 23-21 lead out of a Minot timeout with an attack but Jamestown scored the next three points — two of which were aces from senior Amelia Newman to make it 24-23 Jays. A hitting error on Minot ended the set.Despite being down 2-0 Minot started the third set strong and established an 8-3 lead."We started pretty slow but we started to gain energy," Iverson said. "We have great chemistry on this team. ... (When we get down) we tell ourselves that we can do it. We get on big holes sometimes but we always get right back up."Minot made the Jays work, requiring scrappy defense from the home team but after a mad scramble of a rally, the Jays managed to tie the game at eight.The lead changed hands a few more times but Jamestown continued to assert its dominance on the home court.A quick hit from Claire Marker made it 21-17 Jays. The point was followed by a hitting error on Minot to make it 22-17. A hitting error on Jamestown after a spectacular save by Minot made it 22-18 — but that's when Iverson got going.The sophomore brought the Jays within two with a shot on the right side."I knew I had to do something with it," Iverson said. "I wanted to get the point no matter what — leave it all on the court for the last game."Iverson delivered another shot that Minot returned out of bounds. Minot saved match point to make it 24-20 but Iverson ended it with a final kill to make it 25-20."It felt so good," Iverson said with a smile. "I knew I could do it. I came in confident — I thought I could do it, I knew I was going to do it, and I did it."Iverson ended the night with three total kills and is looking forward to upping her production on Thursday against Century."I'm really excited," Iverson said. "It's a really important match and I think we're going to do great. It's going to be a lot of fun."Jamestown 3, Minot 0JHS 25 25 25MIN 19 23 20JHS — Kills: Lucy Falk 14, Amelia Newman 10, Claire Marker 7, Aylexys Walch 5, Morgan Scott 4, Claire Iverson 3, Hannah Attleson 1. Assists: Attleson 35, Adisyn Yunck 4, Quinn Biloff 1, Marker 1. Digs: Yunck 17, Falk 11, Newman 9, Attleson 7, Biloff 4, Walch 4, Marker 3, Lily Schulz 1, Scott 1. Aces: Yunck 3, Falk 3, Newman 2, Schulz 1. Blocks: Falk 1, Marker 1, Walch 1, Attleson 1.MIN — Stats not available.