Tigers open season with two wins

Ipswich opened its high school varsity volleyball season with a pair of 3-0 wins, one at home and the other on the road.

The Tigers indeed rallied for a Lake Region Conference victory over Aberdeen Christian here last Tuesday (25-21, 25-16, 25-17) and then topped a non-conference foe Highmore-Harrold two nights later in Highmore. Those scores were 25-15, 25-20 and again 25-20.

"We are getting comfortable with ourselves and will get more of a challenge with two Class A opponents," said coach Trent Osborne. "Our learning curve has been steep and it will be fun to see how far we can progress toward our expectations of ourselves. Our aggressive serving has gotten us more aces (29) through two matches than normal. But it also creates a situation where we make a few more mistakes and we give away some points we shouldn't. We will find the happy medium sooner or later." Osborne also says "Overall, the girls are working very hard so far and we wouldn't expect or accept anything less."

Versus the Knights, Ipswich got 12 kills from Gracie Lange in her 28 overall hits. Baylee Kulesa was next at 18-22 with six kills and Kaylin Onken, 6-6, 3.

Aberdeen Christian was paced in that department by Chloe Bosma with a 15-17, four-kills evening. Some of that aggressive serving resulted in nine aces for the Tigers in their 66-80 evening at the line. It was led by Lange at 14-17 with four aces and Quincy Olivier at 15-17 with three aces. The visitors responded with 44 accurate serves and were able to earn five aces. Sophia Eichler finished 9-10 at the line with one ace.

Ipswich was 65-66 in setting and included 17 assists. Olivier was 54-55 with 14 assists and Madison Geditz, 5-5,2.

Ipswich had 10 blocking assists, led by Kulesa with four of them and Marley Guthmiller with three.

The Tigers came away with 29 digs; AC, 39. Ipswich was led by Geditz with 13 and Olivier with four.

Meanwhile against Highmore-Harrold, Ipswich utilized 77 hits in 96 tries with 30 kills. Lange was 22-26 with 12 kills, Kulesa 25-29 with 10 kills and Vanesa Diaz 8-15 with three kills. That was enabled by 80 sets in as many tries that included 24 assists. Olivier went 71-71 with 21 assists and Geditz was 6-6 with two assists. Ipswich dropped in 14 ace serves in its 57 accurate serves, led by Diaz at 16-17 with five aces and Kulesa 12-14 with four aces. Ipswich had one solo block which was delivered by Onken and also added two assists. The Tigers had 52 digs, led by Geditz with 19 and Lange with 11.

The IHS Tigers battled the Groton Tigers on August 30 on the road. They meet Waubay/Summit on the road on Thursday, Sept. 1. The Tigers will celebrate homecoming with a home game on Sept. 6 versus Sully Buttes.