June 12, 2025
Local NewsState & National

Spartans fall to Iowa Lakes Community College

By JARED LARSON

SWCC's Kacy Nevitt (17) blocks Iowa Lakes' Dania Ponce-Diaz (8) while Nevitt's teammate Emma Hanson (9) provides support at the net during Wednesday's match. (JARED LARSON)

Southwestern took the first set of Wednesday night’s volleyball match, but that’s all the momentum the hosts had.

The Spartans were defeated in four sets (27-25, 21-25, 11-25. 24-26) and fall to 1-9 on the year, and 0-2 in ICCAC play. The Lakers improve to 2-8 and 1-1 in conference play.

In set one, Iowa Lakes racked up five of the first seven points, SWCC went on an 11-4 run to give them a 13-9 lead when Iowa Lakes took their first time out of the set.

Following the Laker timeout, the guests went on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 13.

Both teams would tug-of-war with the lead for the remainder of the opening stanza. SWCC coach Shaela Camp called her time out with the Spartans trailing 23-22.

After the timeout, the Spartans went on a small run going up 25-24 before Iowa Lakes coach Mike Turnbull called his final timeout of the set.

The Lakers would knot things at 25, but the Spartans got the set win 27-25 shortly after.

“At practice we’ve been having a little focus issues so just trying to do different drills that are shorter term just telling them ‘Hey, the first five points you need to focus this is what we need to do’ I think we kind of lost sight of that tonight we were focusing on the bigger picture instead of get to the first five points,” coach Camp said in regards to keeping her athletes focused during the marathon first set.

Deniz Tuncer led the Spartans with 12 kills.

“She’s always a very consistent hitter for us, she doesn’t always go up and get that amazing crowd-kill but she’s always my go-to if I need someone to get the ball over and in she’s there, she’s 100%,” coach Camp said of her sophomore from İstanbul.

The second set featured similar momentum for one team, then the other. The Lakers went up 7-4 early before the Spartans tied the set at 8, which led to an Iowa Lakes timeout. Iowa Lakes would go up 12-9 before SWCC called a timeout of their own.

SWCC trailed 20-17 before Camp called another timeout. The Spartans tied it at 20 after the minute intermission.

The Lakers scored five of the next six points in the set, winning it 25-21.

SWCC got within two points of Iowa Lakes during the fourth set, they trailed 11-9. The Lakers went on a 13-2 run and won the third set 25-11.

The fourth set featured action akin to the first set, with both teams often within a point or two of one another. SWCC led 18-16 late in the set before Iowa Lakes found momentum and won the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.

“At times we can be a really great team and times we can really sink down and get caught,” coach Camp said.

Southwestern hosts a triangular on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. against Kansas based community college Highland. At 1 p.m. they host Southeastern from West Burlington.

Kills — Deniz Tuncer, 12; Florence Omodayo, 11.

Blocks — Kacy Nevitt, 3; Emma Hanson, 2.

Digs — Kennedy Jordon, 24; Shalaya Armstead, 12; Florence Omodayo, 11.

Assists — Shalaya Armstead, 22; Samira Baade, 17.