Edmunds County Tribune -

North Central began last week with a five set volleyball defeat to Ipswich at Ipswich last Monday and then also lost to Leola/Frederick in straight sets at home a night later.

First things first! The Thunder lost the tiebreaker set 15-10 and that match point was delivered by Ipswich's Marley Guthmiller. She ended up with 19 kills among her 48 accurate hits and Kaylin Onken was next at 17-21 with six kills. The Tiger team totaled 70 hits with 38 of them being kills. The Thunder countered with 109 hits in 133 tries that included 36 kills. Billie Jo Hoffman finished 20-23 with seven kills and Natalie Bieber had a 13-17 night with eight kills. Amree VanderVorst added 35 hits with seven kills.

Those kinds of numbers are always impressive by both teams during a five-set match. The Thunder would lose the first set 25-22, but regrouped for a 25-12 lead in the second set. Ipswich would then win the third set 25-20 but the Thunder would battle back to capture the fourth set 25-19 and force the overtime.

The Thunder were 162-165 in setting up their attack with 33 assists led by Sydney Bertsch at 120-122 with 24 assists.

Meanwhile Ipswich was 128-131 in its own setting chores that featured 18 assists. Reaghan Bowers went 81-81 there with 13 assists and Josie Knutson was 27-23 with five assists. Ipswich had 81 accurate serves including nine aces, led by Gabby Wald at 16-21 with three aces and Guthmiller was 12-13 with two aces. The NC netters were able to finish 91-103 at the service line with a dozen aces paced by Sydnee Malsam at 15-15 with two aces and VanderVorst was 16-18 with four aces.

Ipswich had 70 digs led by Wald with 15 and Kathryn Kilber added seven of them. The Thunder would actually lead Ipswich with 81 digs, led by Jenisa Jacobs with 24 and Bertsch added 16. Ella Batie added one solo block for the Thunder.

The Thunders' set scores vs. L-F were 25-20, 25-15 and 25-18 all in the loss column. But they were 82-97 in hitting and included 29 kills, led by VanderVorst at 31-35 with 11 kills and Bieber was next at 9-13 with five kills. (Leola-Frederick was able to come away with 111 successful hits that included 41 kills led by Sofia Losure at 34-37 with 14 kills.)

The Thunder were 130-132 in setting including 24 assists led by Bertsch at 101-103 with all the assists. In serving they finished 48-54 with three aces. Jacobs was 7-7 with one ace, Malsam was 14-15 and Bieber was 11-12 with one ace.

The Thunder added 62 digs led by Jacobs with 19 and VanderVorst with 12. Batie had three blocks and Bieber, one block.