Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Volleyball team wasted little time picking up its second win of the season as the Tigers rolled past Wartburg JV 3-0 for the team's second win in a row. Lannie Dubberke (Cambridge, IA/Ballard) led the Tigers with 13 kills on the night.
MCC took down the Knights in straight sets, 25-18, 25-22, and 25-19. The Tigers jumped all over the Knights early on trailed just two times the entire night.
Dubberke's team-high 13 kills was flanked by a pair of aces and seven digs. Freshman Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) racked up 10 kills on the night. Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) passed out 28 assists and added three service aces while Rieley Rodman (Ankeny, IA/Grand View Christian) added two aces and 12 digs.
Nicole Montgomery (Beaman, IA/BCLUW) led MCC with 16 digs while Paola Toledo (Boca Chica, Dominican Republic/San Rafael) and DaNesha Cowley (Waterloo, IA/Waterloo West) combined for five kills and three total blocks.
"Our team is starting to play more disciplined volleyball," stated head coach Peter Cruz. "We were really error-prone in the beginning of the season and we're playing cleaner volleyball and we're just being more disciplined overall now."
MCC's clean approach to the match resulted in a quick 5-1 advantage in the opening set. The Tigers extended their lead to 16-7 on a kill from Hilmer to force a Wartburg timeout. MCC had little trouble finishing off the Knights for the 1-0 match lead.
The Knights tied set two at five with the Tigers, but Rodman served up both of her aces on back-to-back serves as the Tigers slowly pulled away. Montgomery and Carter later recorded consecutive kills that brought the MCC crowd to its feet. A quick spurt from the Knights was quickly deflated by a flurry of points from Dubberke to put MCC up 2-0.
The lead was minimal in set three for the Tigers, but the cushion was more than enough behind the solid play of Dubberke in the final set. The sophomore quickly ended any chance of a Wartburg comeback, finishing off the Knights in straight sets.
"I do think that the team is starting to believe in their talent," Cruz continued. "We're getting to the point where we're starting to execute. We're getting a lot more confident and we're doing some really good things at the net and with our serving that we weren't doing before."
The Tigers travel to Iowa Lakes Community College for a 2:00 PM match on Saturday afternoon.
