Visiting Spartans Take 3-1 Win
MARSHALLTOWN, IA – The Tiger volleyball team (1-2, 6-16) fell to visiting Southwestern Community College (2-1, 17-7) in four sets 22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 20-25.
MCC found themselves with leads in each of the four sets, but were unable to come up with the closing points. The Tigers put themselves in an early hole in game one, collecting only one kill off their first fourteen attack attempts. MCC finished the first set with just seven kills on thirty attempts.
Game two saw the host Tigers jump out to a 6-1 early lead, led by a balanced hitting effort. Four Tigers recorded two or more kills in the set. MCC was able to capitalize on back-to-back Spartan hitting errors, and a service ace by freshmen Alyssa Whitmore (Le Grand, IA) to win the game and even up the match at one set all.
In game three, the Tigers were able to build an 8-2 advantage with three early kills from freshmen Katelyn Yauslin (Cedar Rapids, IA). MCC was unable continue their consistent attack late in game three, tallying three consecutive hitting errors to give the visitors a 23-21 lead. An ace server by the Spartans and an MCC hitting error gave Southwestern a 2-1 advantage.
MCC maintained early leads in game four behind six kills from Yauslin, but were again unable to sustain the momentum through the entire set. The Tigers could not find an answer to the strong middle attack of Southwestern.
“Tonight’s match was just a lack of consistency,” said head coach Chris Brees. “We found ourselves in a match where the opponent was giving us the errors we expected, but we were not able to capitalize. We are going to find ourselves in a similar type of match against NIACC, so we need to learn from this match.”
Yauslin led the Tiger attack with 15 kills on 31 attempts. Sophomore setter Tanya Literski (Athens, WI) recorded 37 assists on the evening.
MCC plays host to NIACC tonight in the Student Activities Center at 7 pm. The Tigers lost to the Trojans in a five set battle last Wednesday night at Mason City.