Lady Bulldogs beat SR twice

PHOTO COURTESY OF RICH FOWLER

As if one battle between Batesville and South Ripley on the volleyball court wasn’t enough two weekends ago, try two more contests between the two county schools as the Lady Bulldogs beat the Lady Raiders twice in matches this past Saturday and Monday. 

The two teams met each other at the Franklin Invitational on Saturday with Batesville winning by a 2-0 tournament final and the Lady Bulldogs scored a 3-1 decision at home two days later.

Batesville won Saturday’s match by set scores of 25-15 and 25-17 with Sophie Gesell pacing such an effort with nine kills. Brooklyn Wilhelm tallied five kills and three aces and Ava Powner put up a team-high 10 assists. Anya Richey led the digs department with 10. Ellie Lauber and Lexi Franklin had four kills and three kills respectively for South Ripley and Kaidyn Gilpin served two aces. Claire Samples with three blocks, eight digs by Franklin and five assists from Macy Stone rounded out Lady Raider statistical leaders.

South Ripley struck first on Monday by a 25-19 score in set one in an attempt to avoid a regular season sweep against the blue and white but Batesville controlled the rest of the match, earning three-straight set victories by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-8.

Reesa Zimmerman and Gesell provided big sparks as Zimmerman finished with 22 kills and Gesell’s total reached 14 kills. Powner served five aces and had 15 digs to go along with 24 assists, Richey added 17 digs and Maddie Haskamp proved vital on the front row with five blocks.

Gilpin smacked nine kills for the Versailles crew and behind her was Lauber and Kaiya Rinear at five kills apiece. Rinear went on to serve three aces and add five blocks on the front row, Franklin and Lauber each had 13 digs and Stone posted a team-high 15 assists.

The Lady Raiders finished the Franklin Invitational on Saturday with a 1-3 record, falling to Batesville, host Franklin and Indianapolis Scecina, all by 2-0 scores. South Ripley’s lone win was a 2-0 decision against Purdue Polytechnic. Batesville’s crew went 3-1 that same day with its other two wins coming 2-0 against Scecina and Greenwood. The Lady Bulldogs fell in the invitational opener, losing 2-1 to Indianapolis Bishop Chatard.

Batesville (16-3) is at South Dearborn tonight in an Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference match before playing in the Greenfield-Central Invitational on Saturday. South Ripley (11-12) hosts Jac-Cen-Del this evening in an Ohio River Valley Conference rivalry clash.