Mason City, IA—The Marshalltown Community College volleyball team earned a split at the NIACC Tournament after fighting through a pair of five-set battles on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers fell in the opener to tournament host North Iowa Area Community College 3-2 before rebounding for a 3-2 victory over Ellsworth Community College in the finale.
The Tigers went set-for-set with NIACC in the opener, but fell to the Trojans by set scores of 25-18, 18-25, 25-12, 18-25, and 10-15. MCC overcame its early setback to drop Ellsworth in a thrilling come-from-behind match 24-26, 28-26, 24-25, 25-19, and 15-12.
MCC was paced by Sara Bisbe's (Barcelona, Spain/CV Saint Cugat) double-double of 15 kills and 13 digs against NIACC. Paola Toledo (Boca Chica, Dominican Republic/San Rafael) posted 10 kills for the Tigers along with eight digs. Sophomore Jordan Carter (Sigourney, IA/Sigourney) added nine kills and 10 digs.
Despite a prolonged match in the opener, the Tigers were pushed to the limit in the second match of the day against Ellsworth. Each of the first three sets were decided by just two points each, but the Tigers found themselves on the wrong end, trailing 2-1.
Bisbe anchored the Tigers in the final two sets to will MCC to victory. In the final two frames alone, Bisbe racked up 11 kills as the Tigers came from behind to drop the Panthers.
Bisbe finished the match with 26 kills while Carter added 14 kills and 17 digs. Toledo recorded her second-straight double-digit kill total with 11 and DaNesha Cowley (Waterloo, IA/Waterloo West) tallied nine finishers.
Freshman Nina Bales (Lacona, IA/Southeast Warren) recorded a career-high 56 assists in the win over Ellsworth. Bales also added 36 helpers in the opener against NIACC on Saturday. Sophomore Rieley Rodman (Ankeny, IA/Grand View Christan) contributed 34 total digs on the day.
MCC continues its road trip with a match at Southeastern Community College at 7:30 PM on Oct. 3.
