L-S volleyball eliminates Baxter, falls to No. 6 BCLUW in regional quarters

SULLY — With the third set tied at 8-all and the match even at one set apiece, Lynnville-Sully needed a spark to regain momentum in the match.

That’s when Brilynn Tice served 10 consecutive points, pushed the Hawks back in front for good and helped the Lynnville-Sully volleyball team advance in the postseason with a 25-18, 17-25, 25-11, 25-20 home win over Baxter during the Class 1A Region 8 opening-round match.

“I think my teammates helped me and our energy was high,” Tice said. “It allowed me to keep going, and I knew what I had to do. I just swing and hope for the best.”

The victory was the Hawks’ fourth straight over Baxter. It was the first four-set match in the series since 2022 and the first four-set win by Lynnville-Sully since 2020.

“I think the way they played tonight was phenomenal,” Baxter head volleyball coach Jordynn Wesselink said. “We hit a low part of our season there late in the year but taking that week of practice to work on things we were struggling with was beneficial. They played like a family and like a team. They were hustling, they were moving and everything seemed to come together.

“To see it end the way it did was disappointing. They deserved to win that match but sadly someone has to lose.”

Most of the sets were competitive early. The opening frame was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 11 before the Hawks scored five straight to take control.

The 5-0 run included blocks by Kate Harthoorn and Tatum Huyser and a strong serve from Tice.

The Bolts (7-20) closed their deficit to 16-14, but a Huyser kill helped extend the lead back to two, and the Hawks never led by fewer than two that the rest of the way.

Ava Brummel put down back-to-back kills to end the set and give her team a 1-0 lead in the match. Brummel finished with 11 kills in the win.

The Bolts came out firing in the second set. Denver Sulzle opened the frame with two kills and two blocks to give her team a 6-2 advantage.

A back-row kill by Caydence Sulzle kept the lead at four and L-S called timeout at 8-3.

“We kept things rolling in the first set and really let them make the errors,” L-S head volleyball coach Heather James said. “The second set was us making the errors. Any time we could make an error, we did. You can’t win games that way.”

Lynnville-Sully closed its margin to 8-7 following a 3-0 run that ended with a Tice tip. Baxter countered that spurt with a 5-0 run of its own as kills by Kaylyn Krampe and Olivia Parrie and an ace by Alyvia Burdess extended the margin to 13-7.

The deficit never got closer than two the rest of the way. Kills by Penelope Robinson melted the Hawks’ margin, but Denver Sulzle registered a trio of kills to extend the lead to 22-16 and two tip kills from Lillian Grunsted closed out the win later.

“When they have that energy they play so well together,” Wesselink said. “Scoring points is great, but at the same time cheering each other on and enjoy the successes of their teammates was important to how we played in the second set.”

The third set was tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 before Tice’s long service put the Hawks in front for good.

Kills by Denver Sulzle kept the match tied on two different occasions and a Lexi Dart blast evened the set at 8-all.

Lynnville-Sully’s 10-0 run on Tice’s serve featured a pair of aces by Tice and two kills from Huyser.

Another back-row kill from Caydence Sulzle stopped the bleeding briefly, but two kills from Huyser pushed the margin back to 10. The Hawks ended the set on a 7-0 run.

“We were passing the ball too high or not getting a good enough pass to our setter so they could get the ball to our pin hitters effectively for them to get a kill,” Wesselink said about the long service run.

Baxter got out fast in the fourth set, but the Hawks (8-13) rallied from a 7-2 deficit to tie the frame at 7-all. Two kills from Huyser, Brummel and Denver Sulzle played a big factor in keeping the frame tied.

It stayed tied at 10 and 11, but two kills from Kamdyn Krampe and a kill and an ace by Kaylyn Krampe gave the Bolts a 14-11 lead.

Tice then took over with smart play at the net. Realizing what the Bolts were doing defensively for most of the match, Tice used a soft tip at the net to find the same open space near the out of bounds line on the right side of the floor.

“She did fabulous with her serve tonight,” James said about Tice. “She also tipped it to an open spot a few times and got a lot of points for us with that. Kudos to her for finding that because when I played I don’t remember seeing stuff like that.”

Her first tip kill gave L-S an 11-10 lead. She went back to the same spot to help close the gap and a late tip kill gave the Hawks the 20-19 advantage.

After Mallory Bottorff tied the game with a tip kill of her own, the Bolts were called for back-to-back net violations and then Tice extended the lead to 23-20 with one final kill.

The Hawks ended the set with five straight points as an Olivia Beyer ace and a kill by Robinson closed out the win.

“Sometimes silly mistakes happen,” Wesselink said. “Those are things we can usually control. Trying to block like that instead of doing the simple things is a learning experience. We need to learn to be smart hitters.

“That’s just a smart play by their hitter on those tips. We just needed to adjust to that sooner. It happened way too many times before we figured it out.”

Tice played maybe the best match of her prep career, finishing with a career-high 12 kills and adding four digs and five aces. She was 23-of-24 in serves and had a kill efficiency of .269.

“I saw they were double blocking in the middle, and it was open over there so I just started putting the ball there,” Tice said about the multiple tip kills to the open spot on the floor.

Harthoorn finished with 33 assists, two kills and 21 digs. She was 18-of-18 in serves and had zero errors in 23 hitting attempts. Harthoorn also went over 500 career assists in the second set.

Huyser totaled 11 kills and 28 digs, Brummel posted 11 kills and seven digs, Robinson tallied seven kills and 10 digs and Beyer chipped in 15 digs.

Addison Collum posted 12 digs, Brooke Hardeman had five digs and Morgan Hay chipped in three digs. Brooke Harthoorn dished out nine assists and finished with three digs.

The Hawks were 87-of-90 in serves with nine aces. Huyser served 12-of-12, Beyer was 11-of-11 and Robinson finished 13-of-14.

Lynnville-Sully had a kill efficiency of .117, and Robinson made only two errors in 25 attack opportunities.

BCLUW 3, Lynnville-Sully 0

CONRAD — Grace Farnsworth posted a double-double, the Comets served up 10 aces and had a kill efficiency of .360 and BCLUW’s volleyball team handed Lynnville-Sully a season-ending loss in straight sets.

The sixth-ranked Comets downed the Hawks 25-10, 25-12, 25-19 during the 1A Region 8 quarterfinal matchup.

BCLUW improved to 5-1 against Lynnville-Sully since 2009, and the Comets have won five straight.

Kate Harthoorn led the Hawks with 13 assists and nine digs, Huyser posted five kills and 10 digs and Jaelynn Vander Wilt totaled two kills and nine digs.

Tice put down three kills and had two aces, Beyer chipped in five digs, Hardeman tallied four digs and Brummel put down four kills.

Collum, Robinson and Brooke Harthoorn contributed three digs each and Hay and Lori Yoder collected two digs.

The Hawks were 43-of-44 in serves with four aces. Kate Harthoorn served 8-of-8 and Tice was 8-of-9.

Farnsworth led BCLUW (33-8) with 17 kills and 12 digs and Olivia Peters posted 16 kills and nine digs. The Comets were 69-of-73 in serves.

BCLUW hosts Fort Dodge St. Edmond (10-20) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. on Monday in Conrad.