By: Emilie Jenson
Public Information Coordinator
The Iowa Central Volleyball Team moved up two spots in the national rankings (NJCAA DII) to No. 4 this week after taking down two ranked opponents and one loss at the DMACC Tournament October 6-7 in Boone.
The Tritons faced then No. 4 Parkland in game one, winning set one 25-22 before falling 18-25 in set two. The Tritons then won sets three and four 25-22 and 25-21 Parkland fell one spot to No. 5 this week following their loss to the Tritons.
Mya McClain led the Tritons in digs with 21; followed by Mercedes Madlock with 15, Noêmia Chiacchio with 10, Olivia Benson with nine Alexis Hiracheta with five digs. Natalie Hagadon and Emily Goodner each had two digs and Emma Bilhimer and Araya Garrison had one each.
Mercedes Madlock led assists with 39. Mya McClain had seven assists for the Tritons and Noêmia Chiacchio had three and Araya Garrison, Alexis Hiracheta and Emily Goodner each had one assist.
Chiacchio led Iowa Central in kills with 12 followed by Olivia Sturgis with nine, Emma Bilhimer with eight, Araya Garrison with seven, Emily Goodner with six, Natalie Hagadon with four assists and Mya McClain with one.
"Parkland is traditionally the strongest NJCAA D2 volleyball program with a number of national championships and runners up; you know every year when you play them, they're going to be solid in every aspect of the game," said Triton Head Coach Sara Horn. "We knew we could beat them if we played our game and stayed focused throughout. That's exactly what we did, always staying in the present and focusing on the next point. We were really proud of the match we had against them."
The Tritons then faced No. 8 ranked Heartland in game two of the tournament, winning 3-1. Iowa Central won the first set 27-25 and fell to the Hawks in set two, 20-25, before winning sets three and four 25-23 and 25-18 respectively.
McClain led the Tritons with her 28 digs followed by Chiacchio with 14, Madlock with 13, Hiracheta and Benson with 12 Goodner with seven, Bilhimer with three and Garrison and Sturgis each with two digs.
Madlock had 55 of the Tritons' 58 assists and McClain contributed three.
Goodner led Iowa Central with 15 kills. Garrison had 14 kills, Bilhimer had 13 kills, Sturgis 11 kills, Chiacchio 10 kills and Madlock had four kills.
The Tritons were then defeated by No. 14 (NJCAA DI) Indian Hills in three: 23-25, 21-25 and 24-26.
McClain contributed 10 digs for the Tritons, followed by Hiracheta's six, Madlock's five and Benson's four. Sturgis, Bilheimer, Chiacchio, Garrison and Matea Cunningham each had one dig.
Madlock again led the Tritons in assists with 25 of the team's 28. McClain had two assists and Chiacchio had one assist vs. the Warriors.
Chiacchio led in Kills for the Tritons with 12, Sturgis had 10, Goodner had five, Bilhimer and Madlock each contribute two kills and Garrison had one kill.
"The DMACC tournament is traditionally a really tough tournament with multiple top-rated teams," said Horn. "We knew going in that we were going to have to work hard for each match and that we needed to rebound quickly between matches."
The Tritons will travel to Creston to face the Spartans of Southwestern on October 10 before a home contest with Hawkeye on October 12.