Ipswich girls stop Langford at home

Ipswich defeated Langford Area 3-0 in a Lake Region Conference league rivalry last Thursday in Ipswich.

The Tiger girls won the first set 25-13 that ended with a Langford hitting error. The second set also went in Ipswich's favor 25-10 thanks to Paige Mehlberg's set-point kill. But the third set proved to be a whole lot closer and Mehlberg also capped that 26-24 victory with a decisive kill. (She had just claimed Ipswich's 25th point with yet another kill.)

"We tried to do a few more things offensively, early in set #3 and it cost us our momentum," said Tiger Coach Trent Osborne. "Volleyball is a momentum game and it takes a lot to get it back. It was good for us to have to fight and be scrappy to take that game. We will need to be scrappy when we get to the end of October and early November, so that was a good test for us."

Another highlight of that win was that Halle Heinz broke her own sister Kamryn's career setting-assists school record. She totaled 14 of Ipswich's 32 assists that night and the mark of 1095 was established with her 11th assist. Ipswich accumulated 102 sets in 104 tries and Heinz would lead that effort with 50 total sets in 51 attempts, followed by Bailey Pitz, 33-34 with 12 assists.

So the IHS hitters benefited immensely, amassing  97 hits in 111 attempts with 37 kills. (Langford's corresponding numbers were 85 of 102 with 14 kills.) And Mehlberg indeed spearheaded a balanced IHS offensive attack with an 18-18 evening that featured a dozen kills. Lindsey Grabowska was next at 18-22,8 and Hailey Bierman 17-22,5.

Ipswich also landed 62 serves in 74 tries with 10 huge aces. Pitz led that effort, going 14-14 with three aces, followed by Heinz at 9-12, also with three aces. The visitors had 43 successful serves that included a trio of aces.

Ipswich created two solo blocks and two assists, paced by Mehlberg with one of each. Katie Bierman was next with two assists.

Ipswich had 70 defensive digs, led by Chesney Olivier with 27 and Grabowska with 19.

The win improved the Tigers' record to 13-2 after last week's action. Next was to be Ipswich hosting North Central on Monday, Sept. 28 and then also hosting Potter County in a Thursday, Oct. 1 make-up game. There will then be a huge confrontation with Faulkton Area here on October 6.