ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -  The LumberJills (1-7) dropped their final two matches of the Bethel University Tournament by being swept in straight sets to Linfield College and host Bethel University.

In the first match of the day the LumberJills were pitted against the Linfield Wildcats.  The first set started out well for the Jills as they jumped to an early 9-5 lead forcing a Linfield timeout.  The Linfield timeout halted the Jills early momentum, and Northland was never able to quite get back on track as Linfield went on a 16-5 run putting the score at 21-14.  The Jills would string together some kills and aces to slightly comeback, but it wasn't enough as Linfield took the first set 25-18.

The second set Linfield would take over early, and wouldn't look back.  The Jills struggled to get a side out the entire set, and when they were able to side out they weren't able to take advantage of the opportunity.  The Jills didn't help themselves much, as most of the points given up were due to errors or aces by the Wildcats.  The second set would finish with a 25-11 final.

The third set was a nail biter, and was an extremely competitive set.  The Wildcats again would jump out to a fast lead of 8-3, largely in part due to attack errors on the Jills.  The Jills, however, wouldn't go away quietly and stuck along trading points for most of the match.  Northland would chip away at the lead with a couple 4-0 and 3-0 runs, and slowly were able to rally to a tie at 23-23.  Linfield then took the next two points to end the set and the match.  Alaina Donovan would keep the serve for the Jills on two different occassions, which helped keep the Jills in the match.

Head Coach Curt Sivertsen was pleased with his teams efforts, "All I can honestly say is that the potential is there but we kill ourselves.  If we can clean up areas in our game that are giving us problems we can compete with most teams.  Our serving is doing its job and we are making it tough on other teams to get there offense in system so now we have to work this week on our offense as we try to build some consistency in our game to give us more opportunity for success".
 
Gabby Jukkala lead the Jills attack with eight kills to go along with three aces.  Tayler Viegut followed closely with seven kills, while Megan Zynda recorded 19 assists.  Erin Roembke was a defensive stand out for the match as she was able to dig out 12 attacks.

Linfield Box Score

Northland would finish the tournament by facing the host school, Bethel University.  The first set started out slow for the Jills as Bethel got out to a quick 10-3 lead early as Northland was unable to figure out the Royals attack.  The Jills would stick around somewhat for the rest of the set, but ultimately the Royal attack was simply too much for the Jills as they dropped the first set 25-12.

The Jills would get out to a fast start in the second set as they jumped to the 4-0 lead, as Zynda would record 3 quick aces on the Bethel defense.  Bethel would answer, however jumping out to a 6-0 run forcing a LumberJill timeout at 6-4.  The teams would juggle points to a score of 8-8, but from there a combination of Jill errors, and Bethel kills would give the Royals some breathing room as they got out to a 24-16 lead.  The Jills would put up a comeback by making a 5-0 run, but it was simply too late as Bethel would take the second set 25-21.

The third set would be another contested set, but the Jills just couldn't pull it out in the end.  The Bethel attack led the early charge out to a 10-5 lead.  The teams would trade off points for most of the match after, and the Jills just couldn't spark a run when they needed one, until it was too late.  The Royals offense again took the spotlight in this set as they tallied a flurry of kills and aces on their way to a 25-18 set win.

Jukkala and Zynda would again be the bright spots for the Jills offensively and defensively.  Jukkala was able to record 10 kills in the match to go along with three service aces, while Zynda put up 18 assists to go along with her three service aces, and team leading 14 digs.

Coach Sivertsen on the Jills service game, "We have 3 of the best servers in the UMAC and they did a great job keeping Bethel out of system.  Jukkala has really developed into a tough jump server.  Her consistency and precision kept us in this set and almost put us in an opportunity to come from behind"
 
Bethel Box Score

The LumberJills will head to Superior, Wisconsin on Tuesday September, 11th next for a couple of matches against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves at 6 p.m. and the University of Wisconsin-Superior at 8 p.m.