Baxter volleyball downs Meskwaki Settlement

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT — Five was a good number for Baxter junior Amber Weltha on Thursday during the Bolts’ four-set win over Meskwaki Settlement School.

Weltha finished with 15 kills, six digs, was 15-for-15 in serves and had five aces in Baxter’s 16-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20 road win during Iowa Star Conference action.

“We really came out flat and sluggish to start the match,” Baxter coach Scott Ranck said. “Our tempo was very laid back and that got us in trouble in the first set as we made many unforced errors.

“The team was really disappointed with that performance and came out on fire the second set. We changed setters, moving Kaitlyn Headlee to the setter’s position and Sydney Schmidt to a back row defensive position. It really paid off.”

The Bolts (6-6 overall, 2-1 in the conference) had 15 aces as a team and were 83-of-90 in all. Sophomore Sophie Meyer was 17-of-18 with four aces, junior Kaitlyn Headlee was 15-of-15 with two aces and sophomore Hallee Rainsbarger chipped in three aces in the win.

Weltha had nearly half of Baxter’s 35 kills and her hitting efficiency was .467. Meyer finished with six kills and 11 digs and senior Sydney Schmidt collected a team-high 16 digs along with three assists. Schmidt also was 16-for-16 in serves.

Headlee tallied a team-high 26 assists and five digs and sophomore Maddie Pierce had 15 digs.

Rainsbarger had six digs, six kills and a hitting percentage of .545 and Watt chipped in five kills and seven digs.

“I’m really proud of how the girls fought through some adversity early in the match and turned it around and played some excellent volleyball after that,” Ranck said.

Baxter has won three out of its last four matches. Meskwaki Settlement dropped to 4-15 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

The Bolts return to conference play against GMG at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday in Garwin.