Marshalltown Community College and Ellsworth Community College are the two community colleges encompassed by Iowa Valley Community College District that field athletic teams. As such, the two have a built in rivalry built on respect. One word that was recently added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary may describe the relationship best… frenemies.

On Monday, October 22, the frenemies added another chapter to the rivalry as the ECC Panther volleyball team visited the MCC Tigers for a 7 PM matchup. Coming into the bout, the Tigers had dominated recent matchups with the Panthers as they have yet to lose to ECC since Justin Hoskins became head coach in 2016. Since that time, the Tigers were 8-0 against the Panthers coming into Monday night with the last Panther victory in the rivalry coming on October, 26 2015.

The Monday night matchup continued the trend of Tiger victories with little drama or suspense. The Tigers opened up a sizeable lead early in the first set and never looked back. In fact, the Tigers did not trail at any point in the matchup as they swept their way to victory 25-11, 25-11, 25-14. The Tigers have now won nine straight matches against the Panthers.

Jelena Dukic dished out 25 assists with Marija Egic leading the attack for the Tigers by recording the kill on 11 of the 25 Dukic assists. Elena Yee recorded a game-high 11 digs for the Tigers followed by 8 digs a piece for Fauneil Olander and Raquel Gonzales. Sadie Smith again led the charge for the Tigers from the service line as she recorded 5 of the team's 17 aces.

The Tigers are back on the court on Tuesday, October 23 as they travel to Rosemount, MN to take on the Blue Knights of Dakota County Technical College at 7 PM.