Spartans swept in home finale

After a ceremony honoring six sophomores on the Southwestern volleyball team and their parents, Grand View JV quelled the festive atmosphere with a steady sweep of the Spartans Thursday night, 25-15, 25-12, 25-20.

With a pair of hard-hitting 6-foot-1 middle blockers and 6-0 outside hitter Emily Pope, the undersized Spartans had trouble generating their own offense after a victory at Grand View earlier this season.

“This was their number one JV team,” SWCC coach Casey Quiggle said. “The first time we played them we saw their number two team and we won in four sets.”

Honored with their parents were Kailey Miracky, Jada Perkins, Ashley Porter, Hannah Ryan, Chelsey Trautloff and Emily Williams.

“It was nice to recognize our sophomores and celebrate what they’ve done for us,” Quiggle said.

Perkins had a strong performance in her final time on the Rita Schroeder Volleyball Court, posting a team-best 10 kills and 14 digs. Ashley Porter set up 12 assists.

The Spartans, 14-20 overall, also lost in straight sets Wednesday at Des Moines Area Community College to fall to 2-6 in the ICCAC Division II race. That sets up an important final league match next Wednesday at Ellsworth, which is 0-8 in the conference.

Seeking the highest seed possible for the regional tournament, Southwestern is in a logjam in the middle of the standings. Sharing their 2-6 mark is North Iowa Area Community College, which plays 1-7 Iowa Lakes next week. Southeastern is just ahead in sixth place at 3-5.

“We’re hoping Iowa Lakes can take at least one set from NIACC, which would help us move out of eighth place in the seeding,” Quiggle said.

Iowa Central leads the conference at 8-0 and Northeast Nebraska is second at 7-1.

Grand View JV 3, SWCC 0

(SWCC statistics)

Attacks (kills) — Jada Perkins 10, Jentri Hullinger 3, Emily Williams 2, Hannah Ryan 2, Kailey Miracky 2, Cayla Maitlen 1, Danica Sunderman 1.

Serving (aces) — Maitlen 1.

Setting (assists) — Ashley Porter 12, Lyann Mena Rodriguez 4.

Digs — Perkins 14, Rodriguez 12, Ryan 7, Maitlen 5, Porter 4, Miracky 3, Kaitlyn Fisher 2.