Lady Bulldogs repeat as RCT champs
PHOTO COURTESY OF BATESVILLE VOLLEYBALL
Batesville volleyball was forced to take its second loss of the season last Thursday night but the Lady Bulldogs quickly rebounded from the rare defeat and used Saturday to repeat as champions of the Ripley County Tournament at South Ripley.
The Lady Bulldogs never lost a set en route to the title on Saturday, defeating the host Lady Raiders in the championship to once again hoist the county trophy.
It was an expected title bout between the tournament’s top two teams but Batesville started the match with a bang, beating South Ripley 25-5 in the first set before gaining a 2-0 advantage with a narrow 25-23 clip in set two. The Lady Raiders proved themselves to be scrappier as the contest went along but the Lady Bulldogs never allowed any consistent momentum, completing the sweep in set three by a 25-17 score.
Reesa Zimmerman proved vital in the championship, smacking 18 kills while also totaling a 100 percent serving percentage. Ava Walsman repeated the same feat in terms of serving and Ava Powner had a team-high 24 kills. Maddie Haskamp led Batesville with three solo blocks.
Ellie Lauber’s six kills and five kills apiece by Kaidyn Gilpin and Macy Stone led South Ripley. Gilpin, Avery Andrews and Claire Samples each served two aces, Samples put up three blocks and Lauber notched 13 digs. Stone led in the assist category with a total of 11.
Batesville punched its ticket to the afternoon with a 3-0 victory over Milan in the morning semifinal, winning by set scores of 25-12, 25-12 and 25-13. Statistics from that match for the Lady Bulldogs were not provided by time of print.
Kendall Furnish had three kills for Milan and Kate Prifogle served two aces. Emma Voss and Autumn Rohrig each had a block, freshman Kayleigh McIntosh had double-digit kills with 10 and Voss added with a team-high five assists.
South Ripley was a 3-0 winner in the semifinals against Jac-Cen-Del, winning by straight-set scores of 25-6, 25-20 and 25-8. Gilpin’s 10 kills in the match for the green and white paired with 10 aces served by Stone and it was Gilpin (13), Lauber (11) and Lexi Franklin (10) all tallying double-digit digs. Stone and Franklin had 19 assists and 12 assists respectively.
The junior varsity portion of the day saw South Ripley crowned as champions of the Ripley County Tournament to remain unbeaten on the season. Wins against Jac-Cen-Del and Batesville gave the Lady Raiders the championship.
