Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich went up against a pair of perennially talented Lake Region Conference volleyball opponents last week.

The Tigers first journeyed to Warner last Tuesday and the result was a 25-5, 25-11 and 25-3 setback for the visitors. Two nights later Northwestern came to Ipswich and that outcome was a 25-15, 25-11 and 25-9 defeat for the home team that evening.

Unofficially vs. the Monarchs the Tigers were led at the net by Marley Guthmiller at 8-13 with two kills. Natalie Crissman was next at 3-8 with one kill. Meanwhile, the hosts were led by Lauren Marcuson at 16-18 with 11 kills in a balanced team effort.

The Tigers were also led in serving by Guthmiller, who finished 4-5 with one ace. In setting Reaghan Bowers went 40-41 with two assists.

Defensively Ipswich was led by Bowers with four digs and Charli Rawden was next with three digs. Guthmiller and Crissman each added a block assist.

Fast forward to two nights later, Ipswich was indeed able to accomplish some positive things despite coming up short on the final scoreboard.

Guthmiller went 8-9 with one ace at the service line and Gabby Wald was next at 7-9 with one ace as well. The team was 36-41 including that pair of aces. But Northwestern finished 72-73 at the service line as a team and landed 11 aces.

Ipswich finished 40-48 at the net including 16 kills paced by Guthmiller at 13-15 with seven kills and Wald at 16-19 with five kills. Northwestern countered with 37 kills. (Ashley Hoven had 18 kills for the Wildcats.)

Ipswich was 107-107 in setting things up and distributed 13 assists. This department was led by Bowers with 69 accurate sets including 16 assists. Josie Knutson went 17-17 with three assists.

Ipswich had 15 team digs, led by Bowers with five of them and Wald with four. Northwestern totaled 48 digs and two assisted blocks. Crissman and Jayda Gisi each contributed one block assist for the Tigers.