Pella, IA—With two victories on Thursday night, the Marshalltown Community College women's volleyball team upped its winning streak to four games and have now won six of their last eight contests. The Tigers defeated Central College JV 3-1 and swept AIB JV 3-0 at Central College. Katelyn Yauslin (Cedar Rapids, IA/Alburnett) paced the Tigers with 22 kills on the day.
The Tigers opened up the tri-meet against Central JV with a 25-13 victory in game one before dropping the second set 25-21. MCC held off the Dutch in the next two sets with 25-20 and 25-22 victories to take the opening match. The Tigers dominated AIB JV in straight sets, 25-12, 25-20, 25-12 to improve to 14-12 on the year, matching the team's win total from a year ago.
Yauslin recorded a season-high 19 kills against Central JV in the opening match and added three more against AIB JV to lead the Tigers on the day. Miranda Smith (Albion, IA/Marshalltown) added 11 kills against the Dutch and registered eight more against AIB JV. Filling in for an injured Ashley Salgado (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa), Alyssa Whitmore played the role of libero in the second match and came up with 16 digs.
Against Central JV, the Tigers jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the opening match as Salgado served on four consecutive points. The sophomore appeared to injure her left shoulder midway through the set, but MCC was able to build a 21-15 lead. The Dutch made a comeback to tie things up at 22, but a kill from Meghann Cole (Des Moines, IA/West Des Moines Valley) and two from Yauslin gave the Tigers the opening set win.
Central opened up game two with a 9-3 lead and never looked back. The Tigers brought the score to within two late in the set but the Dutch prevailed to even the series at one. Game three saw both sides trade points early on but the Tigers were able to gradually pull ahead, leading by as many as six points down the stretch. Central JV cut the deficit to 23-20, but Smith came up with back-to-back kills to help the Tigers take a 2-1 lead.
Reeba Box (Liscomb, IA/BCLUW) opened the fourth set with a kill for the Tigers as the game proved to be another back-and-forth battle. With the set tied at nine, Whitmore stepped to the service line and served on six consecutive points as the Tigers built a 15-9 lead. Again, the Dutch were able to battle back and even the score at 20. Sam Hinrichs (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) provided a big kill for the Tigers to regain the lead and the Tigers held on to close out the match.
After an enduring battle with the Dutch, the Tigers had little trouble with the Eagles in the nightcap. AIB JV opened up with a 3-1 lead early on in game one but the Tigers rattled off nine straight points to run away with the set and match.
"These were two big wins for us," said head coach Chris Brees. "Coming off of our biggest win of the season last night, the team was able to build on that and take two more tonight. We look to continue to get better this weekend at NIACC."
MCC will look to continue its winning streak with a pair of matches at the North Iowa Area Community College Tournament on Saturday. The Tigers open up against Dakota County Technical College at 9:00 AM followed by a rematch with Central College JV at 11:00 AM.
