Spartans battle No. 4 Kirkwood

Southwestern’s most challenging portion of the 2025 volleyball schedule included a visit by No. 4-ranked Kirkwood Community College Wednesday night.

The Eagles, 17-1 overall and 6-0 atop the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference standings, dominated the opening minutes of the match in taking a 10-1 lead.

From that point, the Spartans settled in and competed with a 12-11 advantage over a long stretch before falling 25-14 in set one. Southwestern was also in the mix throughout Kirkwood’s 25-18 win in set two.

Kirkwood finished the sweep with a dominant 25-7 victory.

“It helped us prepare for this match that we played Cowley County and KCK (Kansas City, Kansas) last weekend, and they were number one and number two in the nation,” SWCC coach Brianna Maitlen said. “The quickness when you play a team of that caliber, we were hanging with them and I was proud of our girls. Then in the third set we were exhausted.”

Maitlen said part of the process of this rebuilding effort since taking over the program last year is learning how to compete more consistently with the top teams.

“I just shared with them in the locker room that we have to go into practice with that kind of energy and quickness, so we are able to do that for three, four or five sets and not just one or two,” Maitlen said.

After falling behind 10-1, Southwestern was only outscored 15-13 the remainder of set one. Sophomore Skyelar Lawal was a big part of Southwestern’s surge with a block, a tip to an opening and a sharp kill. Sophie Rahe served an ace during the run and Danyelle Steinkuehler added a kill.

The Spartans competed from the start of set two, taking an 8-7 lead after a Lawal block and consecutive service aces by Savanna Marriott. Kirkwood’s service pressure led to a passing lapse by the Spartans in falling behind 14-8.

It was back and forth the rest of the set as the Spartans fell by seven point, 25-18. Freshman Emma Follman had two serving aces late in the set for the Spartans.

“They had some good float serves that were sneaking up on us,” Maitlen said. “They left the line open for us, but we were having trouble getting a good pass to a good set to stay in system. They are a very good team.”

Lawal led the Spartans at the net with six kills and and four blocks. Steinkuhler had five kills. Savannah Marriott set seven assists. Sophie Rahe led the defense with 16 digs.

Freshman Carly Wazac led the Eagles with 12 kills.

The stretch of top-five ranked opponents continued over the weekend at the Lincoln Land Invitational in Springfield, Illinois, where two of Southwestern’s opponents were No. 5 Heartland Community College and No. 6 Parkland College.

The Spartans lost 3-1 to Fort Scott Community College and dropped 3-0 losses to Heartland, Kalamazoo Community College and Parkland.

Southwestern returns to conference action Tuesday at Southeastern.

Kirkwood 3, SWCC 0

Kills — Skyelar Lawal 6, Danyelle Steinkuehler 5.

Assists — Savanna Marriott 7, Cadence Perkins 5.

Service aces — Marriott 2, Emma Follmann 2, Rahe 1.

Digs — Rahe 16, Gabriela Cardenas 7, Perkins 5, Marriott 5, Follmann 4, Maddie Richter 4.

Blocks — Lawal 4, Steinkuehler 2, Cardenas 1.