Ames, IA—The Marshalltown Community College women's volleyball team suffered two losses on Friday afternoon, falling 3-0 to No. 14 Des Moines Area Community College and 3-1 to NJCAA Division I opponent Indian Hills Community College. The Tigers fall to 22-19 on the year.
In the team's final regular season triangular, MCC opened with a strong attack against DMACC, ranked No. 14 in this week's NJCAA Division II poll. Reeba Box (Liscomb, IA/BCLUW) served on three straight points to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead and were able to build the lead to 10-5. The Bears chipped away at MCC's lead and eventually tied the game at 15. From that point on, DMACC recorded 10 of the next 12 points to take the 25-17 win.
The Tigers had another fast start in the second set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead behind the serving of Ashley Salgado (Ottumwa, IA/Ottumwa), forcing the Bears into a timeout. Again DMACC was able to rebound to tie the game at 10. The Tigers hung tough with their opponent, but DMACC prevailed to hang on for the 25-20 win. The Bears finished off MCC in the final set 25-16.
Against the Bears, Miranda Smith (Albion, IA/Marshalltown) led the way with eight kills. Sam Hinrichs (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) recorded 19 assists while Salgado came up with 10 digs and two service aces.
MCC fell behind early in its second match against Indian Hills, trailing 8-3. Indian Hills was able to slowly pull away to take the first set 25-13. The Tigers responded in the second set with a tight 25-23 victory. The Tigers trailed early on until Rusty Henio (Tama, IA/South Tama) came up with a kill to tie the set at 12 apiece. Box finished off the Warriors with a kill to tie the match at one.
The Tigers failed to build off the victory, however, as Indian Hills posted a 25-20 third set victory and completed the match with a 25-19 fourth set win.
The Tigers will now prepare for their upcoming Region XI-B first round tournament match against Kirkwood Community College. MCC will travel to the top seed on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM.