Sara Horn summed it up as just being a weird day.
After opening the season with an upset of then-No. 5 Kirkwood this past Sunday, the seventh-ranked Iowa Central volleyball team made their home debut here Tuesday night, sweeping Ellsworth inside Hodges Fieldhouse.
Scores were 25-12, 25-13 and 25-22.
With no crowd in attendance, a snow day for the school and coming two days before another ICCAC showdown with Des Moines Area on Thursday, Horn admitted the surroundings were unusual to say the least.
"It was just a weird day overall," Horn said. "But we figured it out.
"I thought the first two sets were really clean with low errors, which is what we have to do. Our mindset was good and we played our game for the most part."
The Tritons (2-0 overall, 2-0 in conference) are the two-time defending league champions. They have now won 19 of the last 20 matches with ICCAC opponents and are 42-10 since 2014 in those meetings.
Kealey Anderson, a returning All-American, led the way with 10 kills and three digs. Katilyn Steffes added eight kills and nine digs, Bailey Dugan had seven kills and Angel Baylark recorded six.
Anderson came out strong in the opening set, recording three kills with Steffes adding three as well. The Tritons never trailed, using a seven-point run to take command.
The second saw much of the same as Anderson, Steffes and Baylark dominated at the nets. Leading 7-5, Iowa Central rallied off 12 of the next 14 points in its favor.
"Ellsworth is much-improved over last season," Horn said. "I thought they did some nice things and took advantage of some areas we weren't as clean in. Give them credit for forcing us to do that."
The Tritons built a 19-10 lead before Horn looked to her bench, providing key court time for several players. Anderson came back in with the score tied at 22 and helped finish off the Panthers with three consecutive points.
"It was great to get those girls in there for the first time," Horn said. "That's always fun to do."
Alesha Johnson finished with 35 assists and six digs for Iowa Central while Baylyn Johnson had 10 digs. Haley Alharithy recorded five kills with two solo blocks and four assisted blocks.
As a team, the Tritons had 40 kills, 38 assists, three aces, 39 digs, three solo blocks and 16 assisted blocks.
Gabi Damiano led Ellsworth with eight kills on the night.
Iowa Central returns to action on Thursday back here against DMACC. The Bears opened their season against Kirkwood last night.
-By Dana Becker