Pirates stop Tigers in opener

Ipswich opened its high school volleyball season with a straight sets loss to Highmore-Harrold in Ipswich last Thursday.

There were some bright spots for the Tigers, after falling behind 25-16 in their opener. But they would start the second set with five straight points before eventually falling behind 30-28. The final set then resulted in a 25-19 win for the Pirates.

They were unofficially led by Kendall Cermak's 24-27 hitting evening that featured nine kills. Ipswich, meanwhile, received 9 kills from Marley Guthmiller in her hitting effort. Gabby Wald added four kills.

The Pirates were led by Brooklyn Baloun at the service line going 15-16 with two aces. But Guthmiller, Onken and Wald each landed two aces to lead the Tigers there. They had nine total aces.

Ipswich had 70 defensive digs paced by Wald with 21 and Kathryn Kilber with 29. Meanwhile Reghan Wescott led the visitors with 26 digs. Natalie Crissman, Wald and Onken each had two blocks for Ipswich and Jayda Gisi had one block.

The Tigers were then scheduled to host Groton in a battle of the Tigers on Tuesday. They  will host Waubay/Summit on August 31 and play at Sully Buttes on Sept. 5.