Perfection! Tigers run table to win RVC

Tipton’s Blake Ehler drills a kill attempt over the net during the Tigers 3-0 match win over Mid-Prairie on Tuesday, October 3. The Tigers clinched a share of the RVC South title with the victory. Photo by Darren Miller. 

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor
  WEST BRANCH — Perfec- tion is hard to achieve, but don’t tell that to the Tipton volleyball team. Last week
the Tigers completed a perfect run through their RVC portion of the schedule to claim the outright RVC South conference title.
  The Tigers claimed the out- right, 2017 River Valley Con- ference South title last week af- ter a 3-1 sweep at West Branch, two nights after clinching a share of the South with a sweep at home over Mid-Prairie. The victory set the Tigers overall record at 25-5 and importantly, a perfect 6-0 in the RVC South. That mark gave the Tigers their second straight River Valley Conference South title. Tipton shared the 2016 title with Iowa City Regina, Wilton and West Liberty.
  Tipton set the tone for the match early with a 25-16 first set win. West Branch tied the match at 1-1 with a close win in the second set, 25-23. Tipton dominated the third set, 25-11 to take a 2-1 match lead. Tipton put the match away and claimed the match, 3-1, after winning the fourth set 25-15.

  The win equaled the Tigers win total from the 2016 season when Tipton went 25-10. The win was also the first victory, home or away, that Tipton has gained over West Branch in the five-years of the River Valley Conference. One of the 10 Tiger losses last season was to West Branch, 3-2. The previ- ous three meetings between the two schools saw the Bears sweep Tipton 3-0 in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Those seasons, the Bears went unbeaten in RVC South and RVC overall play in winning three straight confer- ence titles. Tipton now joins the Bears as the only RVC teams that have won multiple Division titles.
  Tipton sophomore Sommer Daniel improved on her kill total for the season, getting a team high 17 to up her season total to 334. That total is fifth in all of class 3A and third in the RVC behind likely All-State players Aubrey Putman of Wil- ton (384) and Darby Hawtrey of North Cedar (345) in class 2A. That trio along with Madi Parson from Camanche are the only four players in the RVC with over 300 kills. Blake Ehler had 13 kills and is closing in on 200 for the season (188). She had 19 kills in two RVC matches last week. Kamryn Chapman also had 5 kills to give her 15 for the week. Jamie Kofron had 6 kills and Emily Hermsen 5.

Tipton's Emily Hermsen sends a kill over the net during
a recent Tiger match.  Photo by Darren Miller.

  Amanda Smith is quickly clos- ing in on 1,500 career assists. She is 16 away with 1,484 so far. She collected 31 more in the Tigers win at West Branch. Sommer Daniel sits four assists shy of 800 for her career after collecting 16 assists in the win over the Bears.
  Tipton served 88-for-97 with 15 ace serves in the match. Ka- mryn Chapman led the Tigers in serving, going 19-for-20 with a ace. Daniel also was 19- for-20 with 7 aces. Ehler was 17-for-20 with 5 aces. Jamie Kofron was 17-for-17 with a ace.
Tipton had 55 digs and 8 blocks in the match. Ehler led Tipton with 15 followed by Ko- fron with 12 and Daniel with 11. Tipton earned the top seed in the South Division for the River Valley Conference vol- leyball tournament this week. Pool play began Tuesday with championship bracket play to take palce on Thursday, Octo- ber 12 at Camanche.

Tigers Earn Sweep On Senior Night
  TIPTON — The Tipton Tiger volleyball team clinched a share of the River Valley Conference South title with a 3-0 match sweep over River Valley Conference foe Mid- Prairie. The Tigers moved to 5-0 in the RVC South and 7-0 overall in the RVC. The Tigers won their 24th match of the season. Tipton celebrated senior night, honoring Allie Ryan and Hannah Sweeney. In the match, both played. Ryan served 3-for-4, had 2 digs and an assists, while Sweeney had a block and two attack attempts. Tipton won the first set, 25-11 and won the final two sets, the second and third, by twin scores of 25-9.
Tipton broke away from a 3-3 tie in the first set to take an 8-4 lead. Tipton went up 14-8 on a Blake Ehler kill and 19-9 after two Sommer Daniel kills. Tipton would go on to win the set 25-11.

  In the second set, Blake Ehler started the set serving for Tip- ton and took Tipton to an 8-0 lead before the first Mid-Prai- rie point was scored. An Ehler kill gave Tipton a 14-7 lead and a Kamryn Chapman kill set the score at 15-8. Tipton closed the match out on a 10-1 run with Ehler serving the last six Tipton points in the 25-9 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.
In the third set, Tipton started the set with an 8-1 lead that swelled to a 13-2 lead. Tipton led 15-5 and outscored the Golden Hawks 10-4 to claim the set 25-9 and the match 3-0.
 

Tipton senior Allie Ryan serves during the Tigers
senior night.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker.

Tipton had 86 attack attempts in the match with 43 kills. Two Tigers reached double digits in kills in the match. Sommer Daniel led with 17 while Kam- ryn Chapman had 10. Amanda Smith and Sommer Daniel had 20 and 12 assists. The Tigers had eight blocks in the match led by Jamie Kofron with 3. Tipton served 67-for-72 with 6 aces in the match. Blake Ehler served 20-for-21 with an ace while Kofron served 19-for-20 with 2 aces to lead the Tigers.

Tipton 3, Mid-Prairie 0
Tuesday, October 3
At Tipton
Tipton Statistics Only:
Attacks (79-86 43 kills): Sommer Daniel 27-30 17 kills, Kamryn Chap- man 12-14 10 kills, Emily Hermsen 9-10 3 kills, Jamie Kofron 7-8 2 kills, Amanda Smith 5-5 2 kills, Bailey Schmidt 3-3 3 kills, Hannah Swen- ney 2-2, Grace Nichols 2-2. Assists (47): Amanda Smith
20, Sommer Daniel 12, Madison O’Leary 3, Blake Ehler 2, Allie Ryan 1, Emily Hermsen 1.
Blocks (8): Jamie Kofron 3, Som- mer Daniel 2, Kamryn Chapman 1, Amanda Smith 1, Hannah Sweeney 1.
Serving (67-for-72 6 aces): Blake Ehler 20-for-21 1 ace, Jamie Kofron 19-for-20 2 aces, Kamryn Chap- man 9-for-9, Amanda Smith 7-for-7, Sommer Daniel 5-for-7 2 aces, Allie Ryan 3-for-4, Madison O’Leary 2-for-2 1 ace, Emily Hermsen 1-for- 1, Bailey Schmidt 1-for-1.
Digs (47): Laken Hermiston 8, Blake Ehler 7, Sommer Daniel 7, Amanda Smith 6, Bailey Schmidt Emily Hermsen 3, Kamryn Chap- man 3, Allie Ryan 2.
Tipton 25 23 25 25 WB 162511 15

Tipton 3, West Branch 1 Thursday, October 5

At West Branch
Tipton Statistics Only:

Attacks (106-121 52 kills): Som- mer Daniel 40-45 21 kills, Blake Ehler 25-27 13 kills, Kamryn Chap- man 12-14 5 kills, Amanda Smith 10-13 2 kills, Jamie Kofron 11-12 6 kills, Emily Hermsen 8-for-10 5 kills. Assists (52): Amanda Smith 31, Sommer Daniel 16, Jamie Kofron 2, Blake Ehler 2, Kamryn Chapman 1. Blocks (8): Kamryn Chapman 4, Sommer Daniel 1, Emily Hermsen 1, Jamie Kofron 1, Bailey Schmidt 1.

Serving (88-for-97 15 aces):
Kamryn Chapman 19-for-20 1 ace, Sommer Daniel 19-for-20 7 aces, Blake Ehler 17-for-20 5 aces, Jamie Kofron 17-for-17 1 ace, Amanda Smith 11-for-13 1 ace, Emily Herm- sen 5-for-7.
Digs (55): Blake Ehler 15, Jamie Kofron 12, Sommer Daniel 11, Amanda Smith 6, Emily Hermsen 4, Kamryn Chapman 4, Laken Hermiston 3.