Volleyball season complete, Regional action next week

Ipswich closed out its high school volleyball regular-season schedule with a huge 3-1 road win over Herreid-Selby Area on Monday evening in Herreid.

The Lady Tigers won set #1 25-20, but the hosts responded with a hard-fought 26-24 win of the second set to even things at one set apiece. But that refocused the Lady Tigers' effort and they regrouped for back-to-back 25-23 and 25-21 wins to seal the deal.

"Last night was a great team effort," said IHS coach Trent Osborne. "We got some great production from our defense. Our blockers got some timely blocks in game three where we started down 11-1 and came back to win. Abby (Grabowska) was pounding the ball all over the court because our back line passed the ball very well in transition."

She finished 98-104 at the net, featuring 33 kills. Lindsey Grabowska also included eight kills among her 34 total hits. Altogether, Ipswich's attack pounded down 195 hits with 50 kills. (The hosts were 119-136 at the net with 36 kills.) Ipswich dished out 213 sets with 50 assists. Halle Heinz distributed 103 of them with 25 assists and Bailey Pitz added 91 sets, including 22 assists.

Ipswich was 93-98 in serving with five aces; H-SA, 83-86,10. The Lady Tigers were paced by Lindsey Grabowska, 20-22, with three aces, followed by Avery Sylte at 18-19.

Ipswich came up with 164 defensive digs, led by Chesney Olivier with 44 and Lindsey Grabowska and Abby Grabowsa with 29 each in a balanced effort. The visitors also added five solo blocks and 14 block assists. Sylte contributed two of the solos and five of the assisted.

"What a great way to end the regular season with some tournament-like atmosphere and pressure," said Osborne. "It is very difficult to beat a good team three times in one year, but we were able to put together a team effort and get the job done."

The Ipswich volleyball team had won a 3-0 Lake Region Conference road decision over Leola-Frederick at Leola last Friday. In that one, Ipswich got off to a great 25-15 start and survived a L-F scare in the second set to win 25-20. Ipswich then manufactured another 25-15 victory to close out the match.

The Lady Tigers from Ipswich were 95-107 in hitting with 42 kills, led by Abby Grabowska at 36-40 with 19 kills and Hailie Feldman, 14-16 with seven kills. The hosts were 27-31 at the net with six kills.

Ipswich distributed 89 sets and included 41 assists. Heinz predominately handled those duties with a 76-80, 37-assists evening.

At the service line, Ipswich finished 68-74 with eight aces and L-F went 39-49 with six aces. Ipswich obtained a balanced effort, led by Sylte, 18-19 with three aces and Heinz, 16-18 with three aces.

Ipswich totaled 72 digs, led by Lindsey Grabowska with 19 and Olivier with 13. Abby Grabowska was next with 12. Ipswich added two solo blocks and two assisted blocks, paced by Sylte with one of each.

The league win closed out Ipswich's LRC mark at 3-4 and the pair of recent wins improved Ipswich to 18-11 overall entering the Region 2B showdown set for next week. Ipswich will definitely host somebody in the Region 2B semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and it now appears to be Potter County. But some of the 2B seedings were very close, razor-thin, you might say, as of our newspaper deadline. (The tournament gets underway on Monday with a couple of play-in matches at the home-courts of the higher seeds.) Check with the schools, the SDHSAA website or other media if you have any questions about the tournament.

As was the case last year, the regions are divided up into two parallel brackets and the top two 2B seeds overall are Faulkton heading up one bracket and for now Sully Buttes the other. Ipswich currently appears to be headed towards the Faulkton-led bracket, unless things change at the last minute.

The 2B bracket championships are set for November 1 at 7 p.m. at the homes of the higher seeds. Those respective winners will then be seeded statewide into the Round of 16 on November 6.