Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich had a busy week last week in high school volleyball action.

The Tiger girls started with a LRC visit to Faulkton that resulted in a 3-0 loss on Tuesday, Oct. 5. The girls then attended a Saturday invite hosted by Potter County, where they would finish in sixth place, losing the placement match 2-1 to Faith. Faulkton would win the entire tourney, defeating Potter County 2-0 in their championship match, while Wolsey-Wessington topped Philip 2-0 for third. A highlight of this event was that Kaitlyn Bierman was selected to the all-tourney team.

Another highlight was that Ipswich's lone win at the tourney came at the expense of the host team with Ipswich defeating the Battlers 2-1, after losing the opening set 25-12. The Tigers would bounce back with hard-fought 25-22 and 25-23 victories. But the Tigers sustained a 25-13, 25-14 loss to Philip and a 28-26, 25-16 loss to Lyman, followed by that placement loss to Faith.

Ipswich played at Mobridge-Pollock on Monday, Oct. 11 with the results unavailable as of our newspaper deadline and will host Hitchcock-Tulare on Thursday, Oct. 14. And they will also be hosting Leola/Frederick Area on October 18 in the Tiger Den.

Getting back to the LRC clash in Faulkton, the Tigers would unofficially have a 34-37 serving evening with three aces, led by Gracie Lange, 6-6 with two of those aces and Madison Geditz was 8-8 with the remaining ace. But Faulkton was 68-73 with 10 aces. The hosts were 79-88 in hitting with 31 kills; Ipswich, 72-90 with 14 kills, again led by Lange at 25-30 with seven kills and Bierman went 17-20 with five kills. The Tigers had a perfect 76-76 setting evening with 12 assists, led by Quincy Olivier 26-26 with seven assists and Bierman 40-40 with four assists.

Ipswich was led in defensive digs by Olivier with 11 and Geditz with eight. The Tigers added a block apiece from Vanesa Diaz and Lange.

POTTER CO. TOURNEY

Ipswich compiled some impressive numbers. The Tigers were 55-63 in serving with four aces, led by Bierman at 7-9 with two aces and Olivier 13-14 with one ace. They were 117-134 in hits, including 33 kills, paced by Bierman 34-39 with 12 kills, Lange 32-35 with 11 kills and Baylee Kulesa 25-28 with four kills.

They added one solo block and six assists, led by Kulesa with one solo and two assists and Olivier with two assists. They would also come up with no fewer than 80 digs, led by Geditz with 20 and Karlie Gohl with 17.

Facing Philip, the Tigers were 22-26 at the service line with two aces. Lange had one of them in her five total serves and Geditz the other ace. (She totaled three accurate serves.) In setting, Ipswich was 52-52 with five assists. Bierman was 28-28 with two assists and Olivier 18-18 with two assists.

That helped set up a 46-58, seven kills attack at the net, led by Lange 14-21 with three kills, Olivier 10-11 with two kills and Bierman 9-10 with two kills. Ipswich added six block assists, led by Lange and Kaylin Onken with two each. They came up with 23 team digs, paced by Geditz with nine and Kulesa with five.

Facing Lyman, Ipswich was 42-52 in serving with four aces, led by Olivier 6-7 with two aces and Bierman 11-15 with two aces. In setting, Ipswich was 65-65 with 19 assists. Olivier went 26-26 with 11 assists and Bierman 27-27 with five assists. That helped a 61-72 net attack that had 28 kills. Lange was 24-27 with 13 kills, Olivier was 11-13 with five kills and Bierman 9-13 with four kills. Ipswich added one solo block and six assists, led by Olivier with one solo and two assists and Lange with two assists. There were 21 digs, led by Geditz with nine.

In their placement match vs. Faith, the Tigers had 48 accurate serves that included three aces. Geditz went 12-13 with one ace and Lange 6-7 with one ace. They were 86-120 at the net including 23 kills, led by Bierman 22-30 with 12 kills, Olivier 24-32 with nine kills and Lange 23-37 with nine kills. Ipswich was 94-94 in setting with 31 assists. Bierman finished 54-54 with 17 assists and Olivier 35-35 with 14 assists. The Tigers also had one solo block and six assists. Kulesa had one of each and Lange two assists. Ipswich had 73 digs, led by Geditz with 28 and Bierman with 13.