Late rallies help Lynnville-Sully volleyball to sweep over Baxter

SULLY — The Lynnville-Sully volleyball team posted its third straight win over Baxter on Tuesday night.

But the Bolts had to feel like one slipped away from them after leading by as many as nine in the first set and grabbing a seven-point advantage in the third set.

The Hawks didn’t start well in two of the three sets, but their senior leadership and overall veteran experience helped them rally to 25-22, 25-16, 25-23 sweep over Baxter during a non-conference affair.

“The seniors really led tonight,” L-S head volleyball coach Heather James said. “They were keeping everyone together and keeping everyone encouraged. They kept saying we need to reset and play our best, and I’m really happy with how they played.”

Baxter head volleyball coach Jordynn Wesselink saw a plethora of positives, and the Bolts were much improved from their weekend tournament at Colfax-Mingo.

“The seniors really led tonight. They were keeping everyone together and keeping everyone encouraged. They kept saying we need to reset and play our best, and I’m really happy with how they played.”

—  Lynnville-Sully head volleyball coach Heather James

They just struggled too much with the little things down the stretch in all three sets.

“They moved well and the offense flowed, but it’s the little things on serve receive that we have to clean up,” Wesselink said. “I think we let up too many times.

“They focused a little better today than they did on Saturday. The offense we ran was more effective, we weren’t sending as many through balls over and weren’t tipping it as much. Those were the positives.”

Lynnville-Sully is 12-3 against Baxter since 2012, and the Hawks are 9-1 in the last 10 matchups.

But Baxter jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the opening set following a 7-0 run that included kills by Denver Sulzle and Lillian Grunsted and back-to-back aces by Sulzle.

A Lexi Dart blast pushed the Bolts to a 13-6 lead before a kill from Kamdyn Krampe and an ace by Caydence Sulzle swelled the advantage to eight.

The lead grew to as large as nine before L-S started its comeback. A long service run from Penelope Robinson that included back-to-back aces got the Hawks (2-3) back into the game.

L-S trimmed its deficit to 17-14 with a 5-0 run and scored eight straight points to finish off the rally.

“I don’t want to call timeouts to hype them up. I can’t do that from the bench,” James said. “They did a good job of hyping each other up and keeping the momentum when we had it.”

Neither team had much of an advantage in the second set until L-S used an 8-0 run to go up 17-10. It was Brilynn Tice’s serve for most of the spurt as she delivered three aces and Robinson put down a pair of kills.

The Bolts (1-7) closed to 18-13, but Wesselink took a timeout with her squad down eight a few points later. L-S never led by fewer than eight the rest of the way though.

Baxter jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set. Kamdyn Krampe put down three straight kills and Dart ended the run with an ace.

The Bolts also had leads of 11-4 and 14-7 before the Hawks rallied again. Jaelynn Vander Wilt’s ace ended a 4-0 run and then back-to-back aces by Tice melted the margin to 16-14.

Baxter maintained a lead after a pair of kills from Denver Sulzle, but another small run by the Hawks that ended with a Kate Harthoorn ace lowered the deficit to 20-18.

Trailing 22-19, L-S ended the set and closed out the match with a 6-3 run. The two teams were tied at 22- and 23-all before Tatum Huyser’s kill put the Hawks in front for good.

“I changed some rotations after Thursday night,” James said. “There was too many changes taking place on the floor. I just eliminated some of that and went with the players who make the biggest impact on the matches.

“That seemed to work for the most part. Nothing really changed in their play on the floor. They just played their game, and it worked.”

“We weren’t as strong with serve receive late in the sets as we were earlier in the sets,” Wesselink said.

—  Baxter head volleyball coach Jordynn Wesselink

Huyser totaled 12 kills, 20 digs and two blocks, Robinson posted seven kills and five digs and Olivia Beyer finished with 17 digs to lead the Hawks.

Harthoorn finished with 21 assists and eight digs, Tice put down three kills and added eight digs and Ava Brummel contributed four kills and three digs. Morgan Hay and Brooke Hardeman each chipped in four digs and Vander Wilt dished out two assists.

The Hawks served 62-of-71 with 16 aces. Tice and Robinson had six and five aces, respectively, while Harthoorn and Beyer each served up two aces.

“We weren’t as strong with serve receive late in the sets as we were earlier in the sets,” Wesselink said.

The Bolts finished 57-of-66 in serves with five aces. Denver Sulzle served 15-of-16 with two aces, Dart was 13-of-13 in serves and Caydence Sulzle collected two aces.

Denver Sulzle also had five kills and three digs, Caydence Sulzle posted 15 digs and Dart chipped in five kills and two digs.

Alyvia Burdess contributed seven assists and four digs, Olivia Parrie delivered eight assists, Danika Flora totaled six digs and Grunsted chipped in two kills, three digs and two blocks.

Kamdyn Krampe put down five kills, Kaylyn Krampe and Rilyn Titus each had three digs and Kamdyn Krampe served 9-of-9.

“I think it’s good to have options,” Wesselink said. “I want our setters to go to the outside more though. I feel like we force too many sets to certain places just to set it there. They need to know who the hot hitters are. If the outsides are putting the ball down, just keep going out there. If the middles start putting a few down, stay with them while they are hot. We want to mix it up, but we also need to know who the hot hitters are.”

Notes: While all five of Baxter’s seniors played, the Hawks had a significant advantage in experience. All 10 L-S players who saw varsity time in the match were juniors and seniors. Of the 11 Bolts who played, two were freshmen and two others were sophomores. ... In the past 10 matchups between these two programs, only four have ended in three-game sweeps. Three of the Hawks’ wins also came in five sets.