David Archambeau/For the Gazette Jeffers setter Taylor Heinonen bumps a ball during a match against Bessemer Thursday at the Jeffers Gym in Painesdale. In on the play is teammate Mia Nordstrom (9).

PAINESDALE — The Jeffers Jets volleyball entered play on Thursday with only one blemish on their record. After facing the Bessemer Speedgirls, the Jets’ record remained that way, as Jeffers won in three sets, 25-11, 25-11, and 25-11, at the Jeffers Gym.

With the win, the Jets improved to 13-1 on the season after earning the win in the final home match of the season.

An area of focus that Jets coach Rachel Sondergrath has for her team, especially after struggling at times with it earlier this year, is serving. Against Bessemer, the Jets showed marked improvement in that part of their game, as they used smart, rather than flashy, serving to put distance between the two teams.

“We’ve worked a lot on serving this year, where to place it,” said Sondergrath. “It’s not even so much hard serves, but consistent serves, and having serves that are just in, that can make or break the game, win the game.

“If you can’t get your serves over, then we’re not going to be able to get the points and be in control of the ball.”

That was quite evident in the third set, when the Jets turned a 4-3 lead into a 12-3 lead as senior middle hitter Kaeda Rajala racked up four aces during that stretch to help the Jets put the match away.

Rajala finished her night with seven kills, four aces and two blocks. Sondergrath continues to like to see what she gets from her veteran middle.

“She is one of the more consistent not only in serving, but hitting,” Sondergrath said. “She has led the team in kills this year, and blocks as well.”

The Jets opened the game by jumping out to a 9-3 lead in the first set. From there, junior outside hitter Aina Anderson had two kills and senior setter Sara Johnson had an ace and a kill as Jeffers closed out the first set.

Johnson had 12 assists to help drive the offense throughout the night. Junior setter Taylor Heinonen also saw significant playing time, and she had eight assists.

The second set saw Jeffers jump out to a 5-0 lead right away. The Speedgirls pulled to within seven at 13-6 and 14-7, before Heinonen picked up a kill and sophomore outside hitter Mia Nordstrom had a pair of kills to push the lead quickly to 17-7. From there, they were able to finish the set off. Nordstrom also finished her night with three aces.

All things considered, Sondergrath likes how her team is playing right now.

“I like their consistency,” she said. “I like their communication tonight. The first game was a little rough, but after that, they got it together. They were figuring out who was going to be hitting, talking.

“I think that can make all the difference, (along with) communication. So, everybody knew what was happening, what was going where.”

Junior outside hitter Reegan Kinnunen added four kills as the Jets spread their attack around.

PREPPING FOR

DISTRICTS

In their coach’s estimation, the most important thing for the Jets to focus on in their last several matches before districts is consistency.

“We just need to keep the consistency going,” she said. “I think that’s going to be my theme of the year here is consistency, because after we get out of our normal play, we are going to be getting into playing districts against harder teams. We face Calumet in the first round of Districts, so we just need to keep playing at that high level.”

While the matchup, on paper, is a daunting one, Sondergrath welcomes the chance to prepare her team for its toughest opponent in the Copper Kings. She said that her team will focus on its defense to help try to slow down what Calumet does well.

“They have really strong hitters, and we know that coming in,” she said. “We’re going to have to make sure that we’re strategic with where we’re hitting, because they are able to block, and they also hav a really good defense.”

UP NEXT

The Jets will hit the road on Tuesday to face Watersmeet. Opening serve is set for 5:30 p.m.