Ipswich wins the battle of the Tigers

Ipswich defeated Groton Area 3-1 in a high school volleyball battle of the Big Cats last Friday in Ipswich. Yes, Ipswich indeed rose to the occasion against a Class A opponent, always nice when it comes to calculating SDHSAA seeding points.

That lone set that Groton won would be the opener 25-23 in what could obviously had gone either way. But Ipswich came roaring back with a decisive 25-13 victory over Groton in set number two. The host Tigers would indeed double Groton 10-5 at one juncture of that second set and gradually expanded their lead. Groton had a ball-handling error following a Katie Bierman attack from the back row that closed out the second set. And Ipswich would utilized more of that momentum in a 25-17 win of set number three. That set point would be a Quincy Olivier kill.

But to nobody's surprise, Groton featured its own rally in the fourth set and even grabbed a 24-21 set-point lead. But Ipswich instantly regrouped with five unanswered points - three straight kills from Gracie Lange and a Vanesa Diaz ace serve to lead 25-24. Another decisive Lange kill would end the set and the match 26-24.

Lange had a memorable evening with 14 kills out of her total of 36 accurate hits in unofficial results. Baylee Kulesa added a 19-19 effort at the net and she featured seven kills, while Olivier was next with a 13-13 attack that included six kills. Altogether Ipswich pounded out 82 hits in 91 attempts at the net with 32 kills. Groton was able to knock down 24 kills.

Ipswich also obtained a 72-84 serving effort with 10 aces, led by Bierman 15-18 with three aces and Olivier was 10-12 with a pair of aces. Groton featured 13 aces in its own serving attack. And Ipswich finished 80-80 in setting with 20 assists paced by Olivier's 69-69 night with 19 assists.

Ipswich totaled 96 defensive digs with Bierman collecting 24 and Madison Geditz 20. Ipswich also had one solo block and two assists, led by Kulesa's solo.

The Tiger versus Tiger clash was a non-conference affair that improved Ipswich's varsity mark to 2-1 at that point of the young season.