NC Thunder at Ipswich Invite

North Central placed seventh in a Subway Invitational volleyball tourney in Ipswich last Saturday. The Thunder were indeed able to defeat Ipswich 2-1 in their seventh-place placement game. They won 25-15, 20-25 and 25-15.

In that outing the Thunder were led by Amree Vander Vorst in hitting, going 15-17 with five kills. Ella Batie was next at 16-17 with three kills. The team finished 64 of 74 at the net with 21 kills. They were 93-97 in setting with 17 assists, led by Sydney Bertsch at 74-77 with 11 assists.

The team was 56-69 in serving with six aces led by Bilie Jo Hoffman at 12-16 with three aces and Sydnee Malsam was 12-15 with one ace.

They had 49 digs led by Vander Vorst with 14 and Jenisa Jacobs with 12. Batie had three blocks and Natalie Bieber added one block.

Meanwhile they had opened their day with a 2-0 loss to Langford --25-15 and 25-14. They got 52 hits that included 13 kills and were paced by Vander Vorst at 18-18 with six kills and Bieber went 14-19 with three kills. They went 75-80 in setting, led by Bertsch at 55-59 with 11 assists.

Their serving attack featured four aces among their 24 accurate serves. Malsam was 6-6 at the line and Jacobs 5-7 with three aces. Jacobs was also able to come away with 10 digs and Bertsch added nine. And the team totaled 35.

Versus Milbank they were defeated 2-1 going 16-25, 27-25 and 0-21 in their third set. They were 92-108 in hitting and were led by Vander Vorst at 25-29 with six kills. Batie was next at 22-26 with six kills and Bieber finished 17-18 with five kills. They were 128-134 in setting led by Bertsch at 90-94 with 12 assists and Mackenzie Kaiser went 13-13 with two assists.

In serving they finished 51-53 with three aces, led by Hoffman at 11-11 and Vander Vorst at 11-12 with one ace.

They came up with 61 digs led by Jacobs with 17 and Vander Vorst at 15. Batie had two blocks and Bieber, one.

Versus Lemmon they had another three-setter outcome - 25-27, 25-22 and 16-25.

Vander Vorst went 43-50 with eight kills at the net followed by Batie at 23-27 with five kills and Hoffman was 20-23 with five kills. They totaled 33 kills among their 121 successful hits. In setting they were 174-177 with 31 assists. Bertsch led that effort at 136-138 with 24 assists.

At the service line they finished 58-67 with nine aces. Vander Vorst went 11-11 with four aces. Jacobs was 12-13 with two aces. Bertsch finished 9-11,2. They had 85 digs led by Jacobs and Vander Vorst with 21 each.Batie added one block.

NC played Sully Buttes on the road on Sept. 19. They will host Aberdeen Christian in Bowdle Thursday. They will play in Ipswich on Monday, Sept. 25 and will host Leola/Frederick Area in the Edmunds Central School on Sept. 26