Spartans snag first league win

After dropping the first set, and with a key outside hitter going to the sidelines with a shoulder injury, the Southwestern Spartans rallied in front of the home fans Wednesday to win three straight sets over Southeastern.

After the Blackhawks displayed some power at the net by 6-foot sophomore Taylor Menzies and 6-1 Rachel Malinowski in a 25-22 win over Southwestern, the Spartans evened the match with an exciting 28-26 triumph. From there, Southwestern took control with 25-23, 25-20 wins to improve to 1-4 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division II volleyball race and 9-12 overall.

Southeastern fell to 2-3 and 11-9.

Sophomore Jada Perkins, one of Southwestern’s top overall players and a force at outside hitter for the Spartans, started the match but was unable to play after the second set with a lingering shoulder injury.

Freshman Cayla Maitlen of Creston started filling in for Perkins in the back row in the second set, and ended up playing full rotations, finishing with five kills and a block assist.

“Cayla’s a little undersized for the outside, but she does a nice job for us,” said SWCC head coach Casey Quiggle.

“We got confidence in the second set and I think we got in their heads a little bit when we started playing well,” Maitlen said. “They came in knowing we had lost to NIACC and they beat NIACC. It was just a good team win.”

Kailey Miracky, sophomore middle blocker from Papillion, Nebraska, had seven kills and two solo blocks. Sophomore Hannah Ryan added six blocks. Freshman Danica Sunderman of Southwest Valley contributed three kills and four solo blocks.

Emily Williams picked up four service ace points for the Spartans in addition to her work at the net with seven kills. She said the Spartans had more determination to overcome errors in this victory.

“In the past we’d get down on ourselves if we made mistakes, but tonight we just fought back,” said the sophomore from Rockford, Illinois.

Williams’ deep floating serves in the corners rattled the Blackhawks’ defense, especially near the end of the 25-23 win that gave the Spartans a 2-1 edge in the match.

“We went into that fourth game expecting to win,” Quiggle said. “Tonight we stayed together and we were able to finish. We didn’t let them go on too many runs until that last game, and by then we had such a large cushion that they couldn’t come back.”

Southwestern took command, 20-11, in that final set before finishing off the 25-20 triumph.

The second set was a different story, with each team having extended momentum periods. Coming off that first set defeat, Southwestern moved out to a 17-12 lead. The Blackhawks seized momentum to forge a 23-23 tie, and the two teams traded points until Miracky blocked a kill attempt by Menzies to make it 27-26. Then Miracky blasted a kill into a hole in the Blackhawk defense off a Porter set to finish the 28-26 win.

“That was big,” Williams said. “Everyone really stepped up. It wasn’t just one person that we relied on. That’s what good teams do.”

UP NEXT — Quiggle’s team was on the road Thursday to play at Grand View JV in Des Moines, before three matches on Sunday at Southeastern’s tournament against a pair of St. Ambrose teams and University of Dubuque JV.

SWCC 3, Southwestern 1

Attacks (kills) — Kailey Miracky 7, Emily Williams 7, Jentri Hullinger 7, Hannah Ryan 6, Cayla Maitlen 5, Danica Sunderman 3.

Blocks (solo-assists) — Sunderman 4-1, Miracky 2-4, Ryan 0-2, Maitlen 0-1.

Serving (aces) — Williams 4, Lyann Mena Rodriguez 1, Jada Perkins 1.

Setting (assists) — Ashley Porter 18, Taylor Miracle 15.

Digs — Rodriguez 20.