Chanute, KS—A come-from-behind victory highlighted the final day of the Panther Invitational for the Marshalltown Community College volleyball team as the Tigers rallied from two games down to defeat Coffeyville Community College 3-2. The Tigers suffered a 3-0 loss to Fort Scott Community College in the nightcap.
After picking up two wins on the first day of the invitational, hosted by Neosho County Community College, the Tigers opened up the day dropping two close sets to Coffeyville, 28-26 and 26-24. After battling through the two losses, the Tigers rebounded to take a 25-22 victory in the third and tied the match at two apiece with a 25-18 victory in the fourth.
In the final tiebreaker set, the Tigers proved to be too much for the Ravens, taking a 15-9 win for the team's third straight triumph.
The Tigers used another solid hitting performance to earn the victory, hitting .236 as a team. Kayla Prosser (Eldora, IA/South Hardin) and Mady Van Metre (Marshalltown, IA/Ames) continued to lead the Tiger offense as the two hitters combined for 35 kills in the win. Sam Hinrichs (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) posted 51 assists in a match for the second consecutive day, matching her career-best.
Reeba Box (Liscomb, IA/BCLUW) and Meghann Cole (Des Moines, IA/West Des Moines Valley) each recorded 13 kills for MCC. Prosser also recorded a career-best seven service aces on the day. As a team, the Tigers posted 15 aces, the second-most this season.
Head coach Chris Brees commended the Tigers on their effort against Coffeyville. "We're very proud of the win against Coffeyville, a quality opponent, because we persevered and came back after going down two games."
After the team's second five-set win in two days, the Tigers took on Fort Scott for the final match of the invite. MCC fought hard through the first two sets, hanging with the Greyhounds, ranked No. 11 in this week's NJCAA Division II poll, through every point. Fort Scott held on in each though, 25-22 and 27-25, before outlasting MCC in the third, 25-15.
Prosser and Van Metre each collected 13 kills in the loss while Riley Clark (Papillion, NE/Papillion La Vista South) registered 16 digs.
Brees saw plenty of improvement from his team this week after snapping the team's five-game losing streak. "It was really good to get back in the win column this weekend. You can see from the numbers that everyone was involved in that effort."
"Our lone loss was to Fort Scot, who is a great team, but they had to work hard to get the first two wins as we pushed them into extra points. We see plenty of potential for this week ahead and hopefully we use this weekend as a jumpstart to that."
The Tigers are busy this week with seven games in four days. The Tigers host Ellsworth Community College at 7:00 PM on Wednesday night before travelling to Pella, IA for the Central College Tri on Thursday and finishing up the weekend at the DMACC Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
