Marshalltown, IA—A back-and-forth battle went against the Marshalltown Community College volleyball team on Thursday night as the Tigers dropped a 3-2 match to the visiting Northeast Community College Hawks. Kayla Prosser (Eldora, IA/South Hardin) provided a strong all-around performance in the loss for the Tigers.
The Tigers dropped the opening set 25-21 before responding with a 25-17 win in the second. Northeast bounced back to take a hard-fought 25-21 win in the third, only to see the Tigers answer with a match-saving 25-20 fourth set win. The Hawks rallied in the final frame 15-11 to take the match.
After trading sets through the first four frames, the Tigers found themselves in control early on in the decisive fifth set. MCC jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead only to see the Hawks battle back. Trailing 9-8, Alanna Dubberke (Cambridge, IA/Ballard) buried a cross-court kill to tie the match. Northeast recorded the next two points before Mady Van Metre (Marshalltown, IA/Ames) tallied a kill to cut the deficit in half.
The Tigers would score just one more point the rest of the way though as the Hawks took the cross-division matchup at the Student Activity Center, dropping the Tigers to 1-5 on the year.
Prosser recorded a team-high 17 kills to go along with 22 assists and 15 digs. Dubberke provided a spark off the bench with four kills and four total blocks.
Joining Prosser in the double-digit kill column was Van Metre with 11. The sophomore also added 12 digs. Jadelyn Rohach (Toledo, IA/South Tama) continued to play well at the net for the Tigers, recording five total blocks. Sam Hinrichs (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) registered 29 assists and 19 digs, both team highs.
After dropping the opening set, MCC opened up the second with a 3-0 lead. Rohach provided multiple blocks early on to spark the Tigers. MCC forced a Northeast timeout with a 13-10 lead, and rattled off four straight points to extend the lead and eventually take the set.
In the third set, both teams traded points through much of the frame until the Hawks built a 23-17 lead. The Tigers responded with four straight points but was not enough as the Hawks held on.
The fourth set again proved to be an evenly played game as both teams were knotted at 10 all. The Tigers scored eight of the next 11 points, but the Hawks refused to give in, tying the match at 20. Van Metre provided a kill that sparked five straight points to close out the set and force a fifth set tiebreaker.
MCC will open up its Divison I Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) schedule on the road as the Tigers head to Indian Hills Community College on Sept. 9 before returning home to host the 2014 Tiger Invitational on Sept. 12-13.
