Marshalltown, IA—The Marshalltown Community College Volleyball team held a 2-1 match lead on Monday night but fell late to the visiting Ellsworth Community College Panthers at the Student Activity Center. The Tigers fall to 4-20 on the year.
After dropping the first set 25-17, the Tigers responded with back-to-back wins, a narrow 25-23 victory in the second and a 25-20 win in the third set to take the 2-1 edge. The Panthers controlled set four with a 25-13 win before finishing off the rally with a 15-8 win in the fifth set tiebreaker.
After recording just one kill in the first set, freshman Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) posted six kills in each of the next two sets, guiding the Tigers to victory. Sophomore Lannie Dubberke (Cambridge, IA/Ballard) posted a strong night overall, recording 14 kills on 42 attempts.
Raini Hilmer (Dysart, IA/Union) totaled 32 assists and 13 digs. As a team the Tigers collected 90 digs, the third-highest mark this season as all six Tigers went for double-digits. Freshman Paola Toledo (Boca Chica, Dominican Republic/San Rafael) led the way with 24 while Rieley Rodman (Ankeny, IA/Grand View Christian) added 17.
DaNesha Cowley (Waterloo, IA/Waterloo West) stopped four shots at the net, including a career-best three solo blocks.
The Panthers also defeated MCC 3-2 on Oct. 12 in Iowa Falls, IA.
Ellsworth got off to a quick start to begin the night as the Panthers grabbed an 18-9 lead in set one. Cowley sent home a flurry of points to end a quick run from Ellsworth, but the Panthers held off the Tigers for the initial lead.
Set two saw the roles reversed as it was MCC who had the hot hand early on. After a strong rally from Ellsworth, Dubberke followed up a block with a kill to put the Tigers up 12-9. The Panthers eventually erased a four-point deficit to tie the match at 15, but Carter tallied multiple kills down the stretch to even the match at one.
The Tigers used a rally of their own in set three to build a 13-10 lead. After trailing by as many as five early on, the Tigers continued to extend their lead and never looked back to take the match lead.
Ellsworth proved to be relentless on the court in the fourth set. Despite trailing 2-1, the Panthers handled MCC from start to finish in the fourth frame, setting the stage for the final game.
MCC got off to a strong start, scoring the set's first three points, but Ellsworth answered back with three of their own. Deadlocked at three, a prolonged volley ensued, but went to the Panthers as Ellsworth was able to build from the point. The Tigers fought to within one, but Ellsworth held on for the victory.
Tuesday's game was the first at the Student Activity Center for the Tigers in 20 days. MCC concludes the 2015 regular season at home on Thursday night with a 7:00 PM match against Kirkwood Community College as part of Sophomore Night.
