There was a battle of two pretty decent high school volleyball teams last Thursday when Region 3B power Hitchcock-Tulare, coached by Roscoe native Jordan Opp, hosted Region 2B Ipswich for a non-conference regular-season showdown. When it was all said and done the Lady Patriots outlasted Ipswich in straight sets, 25-13, 26-24 and 26-24.
Ipswich finished 106-136 in hitting with 10 kills, led by Gracie Lange, who was 18-20 with 10 kills. "Yes, Gracie came in off the bench in games 2 and 3 and had a great night offensively and defensively," said IHS coach Trent Osborne. Next was Hailey Bierman, 15 of 22 with five kills.
The Lady Tigers were 58-63 in serving that included a lone ace. Bailey Pitz went 12-12 with that ace and Lindsey Grabowska finished 11-11 at the line. The offense obtained 130 sets in 132 attempts, led by Halle Heinz 55-56 with 13 of her team's 35 assists and Pitz was next at 48-48 with 12 assists.
Defensively Ipswich had one solo block and five assisted blocks, led by Paige Mehlberg with those five assists. "They did focus on her last night and we were not able to use that to our advantage as much as we should have," Osborne explained.
The Tiger girls did have a busy defensive evening, though, with 99 digs, led by Chesney Olivier with 34 and Grabowska with 26.
At that point in time the Lady Patriots had improved to 12-3 with their hard-fought victory and the Lady Tigers dropped to 17-3.
"They are very good and we knew that and they were stylistically going to be a very tough match-up for us going in," Osborne concluded. "They proved that we still have some things to take care of before November. You never like to lose. But, a loss this time of year to a good team can be an eye-opener and create a more focused attitude for good teams."
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