Baxter volleyball rallies past Royals, eliminated by GMG

BAXTER — The Baxter volleyball team has not lost to Colo-NESCO since joining the Iowa Star Conference in 2009.

That doesn’t mean the matches haven’t been compettive though.

And for the fifth time in the past eight matches, the battle between the Bolts and Royals went the distance during their Class 1A Region 5 opening round postseason matchup.

Colo-NESCO led Baxter 2-0 for the first time in the past 12 seasons but still couldn’t solve the Bolts as the hosts rallied for a 17-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-13, 15-8 regional win on Monday.

“We are two pretty equal teams,” Baxter head volleyball coach Jordynn Wesselink said. “I think it depends on the set sometimes. It can go either way most nights. And a lot of it depends on who starts with the serve and who starts with receiving.

“When we start on receiving, it can take us awhile to get out of that first rotation.”

Part of the slow start against the Royals in the latest matchup was due to the Bolts’ top two kill producers — Abbie Meyer and Adison Bonney — starting in the back row of the opening set.

The Baxter duo combined for just one kill in the first frame. The Bolts fell behind 7-0 but scored the next seven thanks in part to four aces by Caydence Sulzle.

The set was even nine times, but Colo-NESCO scored the next five and used a 10-2 run to end the set.

“Our serve receive in the first two sets was not good so it was just hard to get the ball to anyone in those sets,” Wesselink said. “We need to get the ball on the net to our setters. It was on the 10-foot line too many times, and that makes it harder for our setters.”

Baxter led the second set 10-6 and 11-7 before two kills from Meyer and two aces from Sulzle pushed the margin to 16-11. But the Royals rallied to tie the set at 17 and 18 before using a 7-3 run to go up 2-0 in the match.

“We are both scrappy teams, and we both get on serving runs,” Meyer said about the back-and-forth battle. “But knowing we‘re both scrappy and not being sure how it’s going to go is nerve wracking. I think we get down sometimes because we don’t know what to do. We struggle to find our own motivation, too.”

A Sulzle ace and a Meyer kill helped the Bolts (9-20) get out to a 4-1 lead in the third set. But the Royals rallied back to force six ties and then went in front 16-12.

Momentum swung back to Baxter following its 8-0 run that put the Bolts up 20-16. The Royals again rallied to tie the set at 20 and 21.

Baxter got an ace from Meyer to take a 22-21 lead and eventually went in front 24-21. The Bolts scored the final two points of the set after the Royals drew even at 24-all.

One of those final two points was a service error by the Royals. They also made three service errors in the final set and had nine total in the match with only seven aces.

The Bolts missed 12 serves, too, but countered with 22 aces.

“Our serving was really good. That was our key to the match,” Wesselink said. “That lit a fire on us. We missed a lot of serves in the first two sets. We eventually took our time back there and realized it was a crucial part of the game that can help us win.”

Baxter dominated the fourth set. The Bolts led 7-0 and a Meyer ace eventually put the home team in front 19-5. That stretch also included two more aces from Sulzle and an ace from Kaylyn Krampe.

Another ace by Kendall Brummel pushed the margin to 22-7 and the Bolts forced a fifth game after two kills from Bonney and a kill by Kamdyn Krampe.

Two kills from Kaylyn Krampe helped the Bolts jump out to a 4-2 lead early in the final set. Back-to-back aces by Meyer pushed the lead to 8-3 and then an ace by Brummel made it 10-4 and forced a Royals’ timeout.

“It’s do or die. You either execute and keep playing or we were going to be done,” Wesselink said. “We just talked about not being done and keeping momentum on our side. We were able to get them out of system eventually.”

Colo-NESCO (4-16) got within 10-7 and 11-8, but Baxter ended the match with a 4-0 run that featured one final blast from Meyer.

Meyer finished with seven kills, seven digs, six aces and two assists in the victory.

“Getting down 0-2 wasn’t the best feeling ever,” Meyer said. “We had a different lineup (to start the match) and that held us down a bit. I don’t know what happened in the second set. We got a little fortunate in the third set but winning that fourth set really helped us keep momentum in the fifth.”

Sulzle finished with 14 digs and nine aces, Bonney chipped in 10 assists and four kills and Kaylyn Krampe produced three kills and four aces.

Hannah Huffaker put down three kills, Brummel chipped in two kills and two aces and Alyvia Burdess dished out three assists. Sulzle was 15-of-16 in serves, while Bonney finished 7-of-8 and Lexi Dart was 8-of-9.

The Bolts had a kill efficiency of .163 but Bonney’s was .571 and Meyer had a kill efficiency of .308.

“I think our team is really strong in serving,” Meyer said. “We practice serving a lot in practice. We were able to figure out where the seams were and when to go short or long.”

Molly Angell led the Royals with seven kills, seven digs and two aces and Cerra Muntz chipped in 11 assists and seven digs.

Notes: The Bolts and Royals played two five-set matches this season. Colo-NESCO led the first meeting 2-1, held a 2-1 lead in last year’s five-setter and led 2-1 in a five-set match in 2020 but couldn’t finish off the win in any of them.

GMG 3, Baxter 0

GARWIN — The Bolts were 5-0 against GMG from 2017-2020. But since then, the Wolverines have simply had Baxter’s number.

And GMG eliminated its Iowa Star Conference rivals on Wednesday with a 25-7, 25-18, 25-16 victory during 1A Region 5 quarterfinal action.

Baxter missed 10 serves, had only five aces and produced a negative kill efficiency during the loss.

GMG (20-10) scored its seventh straight win over Baxter, improving to 7-5 in the series since 2017. The Wolverines face Gladbrook-Reinbeck (22-20) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. on Monday in Reinbeck.

Bonney led the Bolts with five digs, three kills and two assists, while Burdess and Karlee Koehler each produced four assists and five digs.

Meyer registered two kills, five digs and two aces, Sulzle contributed 23 digs and Dart chipped in two kills and four digs.

Brummel and Huffaker added five digs and Kaylyn Krampe put down three kills.

The Bolts were 33-of-43 in serves with Sulzle going 10-of-11 and Brummel finishing 7-of-8.