Wednesday, Oct. 9.
Division II Conference Matches
#19 Kirkwood (19-9; 3-3) def. #11 Iowa Central (23-4; 5-1), 3-2
Wednesday night was a back and forth affair with two top 20 ranked teams in the country squaring off. Iowa Central took the first set and then both teams traded sets until the final fifth set with Kirkwood winning 3-2.
With this loss for Iowa Central, it is their first loss in the regular-season conference play in 14 matches.
Iowa Central was led by Freshman Outside Hitter, Kealey Anderson, with 24 kills leading to a .352 kill percentage. Sophomore, Amaya Finley followed closely behind with 20 kills. On the defensive side, Sophomore defensive specialist Taylor Bienemann finished the match with 21 digs which led all players on either team.
Kirkwood was ready for the challenge of hosting the Tritons. Freshman, Aubrin Dittmer, led her team with 22 kills and on the other side, Miranda Wheelock, finished with a team-high 20 digs. Eagle starter, Madi Wagaman collected 35 assists.
Both teams will be competing in the Iowa Central Triton Invitational this weekend starting on Friday.
Southwestern (4-24; 1-5) def. Ellsworth (5-21;0-6), 3-0
The Spartans of Southwestern took their first conference match win against Ellsworth this Wednesday.
Southwestern took straight sets 25-23, 25-11, and 25-13. This sweep marked the third year in a row that Southwestern swept the Ellsworth Panthers.
Southwestern heads over to Nebraska to face off against Northeast Hawks on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Ellsworth looks ahead to Wartburg College on Tuesday, Oct. 15, with their next conference match against NIACC.
Hawkeye (12-15; 3-3) def. Iowa Lakes (5-22; 1-5), 3-0
Up in Waterloo, IA, the RedTail's swept the Lakers in sets. The first two sets where close favoring the RedTail's leading to a 25-14 third set.
Leading the Iowa Lakes Lakers in kills was Sophomore, Evonne Tomlin and Faith Marroquin led her team in digs with 31. The Lakers tallied 22 assists and Sophomore Mary Kelly accounted for 19 of those 22.
For Hawkeye, Paige Eiffler had a match-high 11 kills followed by Alison Godwin and Jessica Hopkins with 9.
Sophomore Redtail, Haylee Keune, collected 23 digs and 2 assists. The next high in digs was 14 coming from starter, Tanyon Schutjer.
Next up for Hawkeye to keep the momentum rolling is the Kankakee CC Tournament this weekend in Illinois. Iowa Lakes gears up for another conference foe, Marshalltown this Saturday, Oct. 12.
#20 NIACC (21-6; 5-1) def. Northeast (14-12; 5-1), 3-0
NIACC handed Northeast their first conference loss of the season this week on Wednesday. NIACC has been on a roll recently winning their last two matches in a dominating fashion, 3-0. Much of the same happened this Wednesday at home against Northeast.
NIACC got the ball rolling with Sophomore Tessa Sienknecht, dominating in kills leading both teams with 14 followed by Shelby Heston with 9.
Three players all hovered around 13 digs total with Bri Powers leading with 13, Kennedy Meister and Kayla Lentz ending the match with 11.
On Northeast's side of the net, Hannah Heppner led her team with 9 kills and also recorded 1 dig. Much of the same from Northeast where they saw four players finish with double-digit digs. Elley Beaver led her team with 18, following closely behind was Josie Sanger (15), Jamie Bonifas (13), and MaKayla Davidson (12).
NIACC will look to keep this dominating performance going at the Iowa Central Triton Invitational against Central Columbus CC. Northeast heads to Council Bluffs for the Reiver Festival Tournament against Colby CC.
DMACC (14-13; 4-2) def. Southeastern (17-12; 3-3), 3-1
DMACC went into West Burlington coming off a huge win against the number one ranked team in Division III, Rochester. After dropping the first set, DMACC rattled off three straight-set wins, to lock up the win on the road.
DMACC recorded 39 kills with 13 of them coming from Amber Dilsaver, followed by Katelyn Courtney with 9. With the added fourth set, the digs were nothing short of prevalent. Totaling 119 digs, Freshman, Dakota Miles dugs out 30 with Darian Gray collecting 22 and Jordan Neely recording 19.
For Southeastern, they also tallied up the digs ending the match with 125 total with Sophomore Rachel Malinowski leading the team with 30. Four more Southeastern players did their part rounding out the rest of the digs including 27 from Melodee Schulte and 22 from Rachel Bingham. Rachel wasn't finished there, leading her team in kills with 16.
DMACC will look to continue the roll they are on at the moment heading to Fort Dodge for the Triton Invitational to begin play against Cowley. Southeastern heads to Illinois to face off against Olivet Nazarene in the Kankakee Invitational.