Volleyball loses ICCAC matches after whirlwind weekend

Western Iowa Tech volleyball competed with two conference powerhouses but dropped both weekday matches after a frantic weekend tournament in Mason City.

The Comets (9-17 overall, 3-6 ICCAC) lost in three at Hawkeye on Tuesday, October 10, and in four to Kirkwood at home on Thursday, October 12. They split 2-2 at the North Iowa Area Tournament the prior weekend, October 6-7.

"It was a lot of volleyball in a short amount of time, and I commend this team for its resolve during all of it," head coach Dante Frattini said. "We played 18 sets in about 20 hours in Mason City. We walked out of there with two five-set wins and nearly had a third."

The Comets beat tournament-host NIACC on Friday, October 6, for their first reverse-sweep of the season. WIT dropped the first two sets 25-7 and 25-23 before flipping the match with three straight wins, 25-22, 25-17, 25-9.

A 25-18 first-set win got the Comets off to a better start against Grand View JV on Saturday, October 7, but WIT still found itself in a 2-1 hole after three sets. The Comets won by the skin of their teeth in the fourth before cruising to a 10-point win in the fifth to close the match 25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-5.

WIT lost to Ellsworth in five sets (25-22, 18-25, 16-25, 25-22, 11-15) and to North Dakota State College of Science in three (11-25, 13-25, 15-25) in Mason City.

WIT's last three wins have come in five sets.

"I think as the season has progressed, we're learning how to win," Frattini said. "How to stay locked in mentally and compete no matter what. How to identify our strengths and their weaknesses and try to do things that tilt the set a little bit in our favor. I don't think we win down 2-0 like that in August. It's something that's come with experience.

"That's something we can be very proud of."

Middle blocker Melanie Koval had a season-high nine kills (.286 hitting percentage) while outsides Maya Augustine and Jagoda Szczepaniak had 15 kills each in the win against Grand View. Szczepaniak and libero Lotta Lischka led the Comets with 22 digs each.

Szczepaniak led the Comets with 16 kills against NIACC, followed by 14 from Cooper Champoux and nine from Augustine. Szczepaniak also led with five service aces. Lischka tied with Augustine for a team-best 24 digs.

The weekday conference losses dropped the Comets to 3-6 in the ICCAC.

Tuesday pitted WIT against the former No. 20-ranked Hawkeye RedTails, while Thursday's match was against No. 6-ranked Kirkwood.

"That's life in this conference," Frattini said. "More than half your games are against teams that are ranked, just were ranked, or are about to be ranked."

The Comets lost 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 to Hawkeye. Freshman setter Kaira Willits had a double-double with 19 assists and 12 digs.

WIT pounced early with a 25-22 opening-set win, but the Eagles, who are second in the ICCAC, bounced back to win the final three sets 25-18, 25-16, 25-16.

Shentel Denetsosie has a team-high 17 assists and four service aces. Willits had two aces and 15 assists. Augustine led with nine kills, followed by eight from Champoux and six from Kealohilani DeNisi. Lischka led with 17 digs and also had three aces.

The Comets host No. 4-ranked Iowa Central at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the Dunker Center.