Ipswich's bid for a State B high school volleyball berth ended in Chamberlain last Tuesday, a straight-sets loss to the seventh-seeded Burke Lady Cougars. You could call it a battle of the Big Cats, Cougars vs. Tigers, if you will!
Momentum is such a huge factor in volleyball and the tenth-seeded Lady Tigers hung around within striking distance in all three sets. But crucial mini-momentum swings throughout the match would eventually put Burke on top.
The Lady Tigers dropped their first set 25-22, after coming back from a 14-7 deficit. An Avery Sylte kill pulled Ipswich into a brief 20-20 tie late in this set. Set number two ended up in favor of Burke 25-21, after Ipswich had rattled off three straight points to trail 24-21. (The Lady Tigers were down even further in this set, 21-13, before their comeback bid.) Then trailing 2-0 at that point of the match, Ipswich definitely needed a win and got off to a great start in the third set. The Lady Tigers would lead by as much as six points, 13-7, thanks to a Lindsey Grabowska kill. It was still tied 23-23 late in the set after an Ipswich score. But the Lady Cougars reeled off two unanswered points to capture the set and the match 25-23.
Ipswich went 85-106 at the net with 34 kills, led by Katie Bierman's 14-18 evening with 11 of those kills. Grabowska went 20-21 with seven kills and Paige Mehlberg was 10-11,6. That was all enabled by some effective setting. Ipswich finished 99-100 with 29 assists. Halle Heinz was 41-42 with 16 assists and Bailey Pitz was next at 42-42 with 11 assists.
Ipswich finished 63-66 in serving, featuring eight aces. Heinz went 15-16 with three aces and Tarynn Kleffman was 5-7,2.
Defensively the Lady Tigers came up with 86 digs, paced by Sylte with 25 and Chesney Olivier with 23. Katie Bierman added a solo block and three assists and Halie Feldman, three assists.
The 2019 IHS Senior Class netters will be missed and they included Sylte, Alexa Rossman, Kendra Osborne and Jessica Pullman. But the Lady Tigers, 20-7 after the loss, should already be looking forward to next season, as they will return a solid nucleus of experienced netters. (They got a ton of experience this season alone with a very competitive schedule to say the least.)
"Great schedule we had this year," said IHS head coach Trent Osborne. "Six of our seven losses are playing in the state tourney." And Langford very well could have been had the Lions been in any other region that didn't contain Northwestern or Warner. Those are all Lake Region Conference teams, as well as Ipswich and Faulkton Area. (The Trojans, Northwestern and Warner will indeed represent the LRC in the 2019 State B at Rapid City later this week.)
"What a great ride it was. The way the girls played down the stretch, the team they became and all of the support that we received over the year, it was all amazing," Osborne said. "It always hurts when it is the seniors' last match, but I hope that they can take away great memories and life lessons from the time that they spent with the program. For the underclassmen, I hope this makes them hungry and sets the bar for where their work ethic and passion for their team needs to be."
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