IPSWICH — The No. 10 seed Tech volleyball team saw its season come to an end on the road in the first round of the Division 3 North State Tournament Thursday. The Tigers came in prepared to defend against a strong offensive attack from No. 7 Ipswich, but it proved to be too much with Tech losing by set scores of 14-25, 18-25 and 16-25.
“Ipswich’s offense was the best offense we’ve seen all year,” Tech coach Kaitlyn Wechsler said. “We knew that coming in. We practiced for it all week. We practice for the big hits. But Ipswich is a phenomenal team.
“I think we prepared well,” Wechsler said. “We knew what we were coming into (Thursday). I told the team we just wanted to go in and fight. I think we did that.”
The Tigers started the night off on the right foot, building an early 3-2 lead thanks to kills from Delcy Ortiz and Kaylin Kang. But Tech couldn’t hold the Ipswich offense off for long. Claire O’Flynn led the way with a handful of kills up front and Ipswich went on an 8-1 run, with Tech’s only point coming off a service error to fall behind 10-4.
The Tigers got back to keeping pace for a short time, but another strong Ipswich run forced Tech to take a timeout after falling behind 17-8. The break didn’t do much to help and Ipswich’s Emily Davidson finished off the set with an ace to put Ipswich ahead 1-0.
The second set was the most competitive of the night with the teams battling through four lead changes and three ties.
Ipswich started things off and capitalized on a pair of Tech errors to go ahead 3-1. But the Tigers came right back thanks to a block from Genesis Paulino to go ahead 4-3. From there, both teams traded points leading to a 6-6 tie.
Tech lost some momentum midway through the set and fell behind 11-7 before climbing back into things. An ace from Glerys Merced and a kill by Lizeth Vela put the Tigers back on top at 14-13.
But that was one of the last leads Tech would have for the rest of the night. Both teams kept pace with each other down the stretch, but Ipswich ended the second set on a four-point run to take it 25-18 and go ahead 2-0.
A handful of unforced errors doomed Tech in the third set. After the Tigers went ahead 1-0, a pair of errors helped Ipswich go ahead 5-1 before a Tigers timeout. The timeout didn’t do much to slow down an Ipswich offense feeding off momentum. The Tigers couldn’t keep pace and eventually fell behind by as much as 21-7 later in the set.
Tech put together one final run to cut the Ipswich lead to 24-16, but a service error ended the night for the Tigers and Ipswich advanced to the quarterfinals with the 3-0 win.
“This team just fought,” Wechsler said. “That’s been our word all year long, is just fight. They pushed through adversity. No matter what was happening on the court they just pushed themselves every game. So I’m really proud of all of them for that.”
The Tigers graduate eight seniors, each of whom leaves a lasting impact on the program, Wechsler said.
“They turned this program around the last two years,” Wechsler said. “I’m so proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish. They’re leaving a great legacy and they’ll always be welcome here.”
