Netters get road win at SB

Ipswich edged Sully Buttes 3-1 in non-conference high school varsity volleyball action at Sully Buttes last Tuesday.

The match opened with 25-17 victory for Ipswich that was capped by a set-point service error on Sully Buttes.

But the hosts quickly regrouped and living up to their nickname Chargers they charged back for a 25-21 win of set number #2 which was punctuated by a set-point hitting error on Ipswich.

Ipswich clawed back also living up to its mascot name Tigers and captured a somewhat easier 25-16 victory in set #3 ended with a Quincy Olivier ace to put Ipswich up 2-1 in the match.

Coach Trent Osborne detailed Ipswich's 25-17 win of the fourth set that clinched the match: "After trailing 14-10 we put together a couple of flurries of points and pushed the score to 18-17 Tigers. Then we finished strong with a (Baylee) Kulesa kill, followed by a Kulesa ace, and two (Gracie) Lange kills in a row and another Kulesa ace, followed by another Lange kill. Kulesa fired another ace to close out the game and match."

Ipswich finished with 127 hitting attempts at the net with only 22 errors and totaled 34 kills, led by Lange's 35-38 evening that featured 18 kills. Kulesa was also 26-31 in net play, including nine kills. And Katie Bierman went 23-31 there with four kills.

Ipswich added five solo blocks in net play and two assisted blocks, led by Olivier at two solos and one assist. She also had 33 set assists.

At the service lines, Ipswich finished 84-94 with 14 aces. Madison Geditz went 19-20 with three aces and Kulesa finished 17-17 with four aces. It was certainly a balanced serving effort that evening as Olivier would also contribute a 14 of 15 effort with four aces.

In defense, meanwhile, Ipswich came away with 70 total digs, led by Geditz with 18 and Kulesa with 13. Bierman added 11 digs to also finish in double figures.

After the win and looking forward to the rest of the schedule, Osborne commented: "With our level of varsity experience, none of them are going to be easy. But they should be exciting. We keep learning and getting better everyday."