Tipton bumps S-C

A steady, varied attack and solid defense helped the Tipton Cardinals volleyball team end a three-game losing streak Tuesday night.

They beat the Smith-Cotton Lady Tigers 25-17, 25-18, in the S-C gymnasium.

Tipton coach Danny Dick was pleased to see his team get back on the winning track.

“It was good,” he said. “I’m glad because the girls were starting to get down on themselves. It was a great win for us in that respect, mentally.”

Smith-Cotton (3-13) got off to a quick start in the first game behind the power hitting of Brittainy Zimmerschied. Zimmerschied pounded three consecutive kills, part of her 12 kills on the night, to stake the Lady Tigers to a 5-1 lead.

“We knew we had to go right at Tipton,” Smith-Cotton coach Brandon Wallace said. “You have to knock them out early, so we can keep the momentum. She (Zimmerschied) did a great job of that. Then our passes went astray, so we really couldn’t run any offense whatsoever.”

Tipton (9-6) began to get back into the first game as its defense stiffened and forced the Lady Tigers into making mistakes. When a Smith-Cotton spike went long, the Cardinals tied the game at 12.

The game stayed close until Chelsey Hainen nailed a pair of kills that put Tipton in front 22-16. When Hainen stepped back to the service line and recorded an ace, the Cardinals captured game one.

Lindsey Koechner got Tipton rolling in the second game, as she served the Cardinals into a 7-0 lead until Zimmerschied got a kill to stop the run.

Lexie Holloway and Hainen kept Tipton rolling. They both recorded kills as Tipton began to take over at the net.

Katelin Knight tried to keep the Lady Tigers in the game, getting two of her four kills as the game got closer. Wallace was impressed with Knight’s play and her continued improvement this season.

“I’m really proud of Katelin,” Wallace said. “I thought she really stepped in and did a great job. She’s working really hard on her hitting.”

The Lady Tigers closed to within 20-15, but got no closer. Lori Mortenson closed out the win for the Cardinals with a final kill.

Nichole Hoffman had 16 assists for Smith-Cotton, while Zimmerschied added two blocks and eight digs, and Knight had 13 digs.

Dick hopes that the victory over Smith-Cotton will get his team back to the way it had been playing earlier in the season.

“It’s been a struggle as of late,” Dick said. “We’ve played some good teams, and we’ve beaten some good teams. The last two weeks, we’ve been struggling to find the right answers. We had looked so good prior to that. We’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to work on for the kind of competition we face in districts.”