By: Dana Becker 

Messenger Sports Staff 

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa Central's volleyball program has made the Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena and NJCAA Div. II Championships their home away from home.

For a fourth consecutive season, the Tritons will compete with the best of the best here beginning Wednesday when they take on Pensacola State College at 1 p.m.

Iowa Central (31-5 overall) survived a regional tournament that included two other ranked teams after sharing the ICCAC regular season title with both Des Moines Area and Kirkwood. Both DMACC and the Eagles earned wild-card bids to nationals.

Coupled with a schedule featuring numerous rated foes, the Tritons earned their third straight season of at least 30 wins. Over the past four seasons, Iowa Central has gone 131-19, placing seventh, fourth and a program-best third at nationals during that stretch.

This version needed to replace several key ingredients from the past, as sophomores Mya McClain, Mercedes Madlock, Alexis Hiracheta, Noemia Chiacchio and Emma Bilhimer have led the way.

McClain, a former St. Edmond standout, has started all 36 matches, recording 624 digs with 119 assists and 59 aces. She has 100 aces in her two-year career after seeing action in 32 matches as a freshman.

"We knew that we had a lot of good freshmen coming in and really just wanted to make them feel good about playing volleyball," McClain said. "Sometimes it can be intimidating coming into a college with a program that has had so much success over the years.

"Us sophomores knew that we wanted to go back to nationals and keep that success going and wanted all of the incoming freshmen to get to experience that, too. Just creating a welcoming and safe environment for our team has been a huge success in how our team chemistry is on and off the court."

Chiacchio has a team-high 478 kills to go along with 388 digs and 104 aces. Former Manson Northwest Webster standout and freshman Olivia Sturgis is second with 264 kills while Bilhimer has 249 and another ex-Cougar, Emily Goodner, has 238.

Madlock leads the team with 1,280 assists to go with 417 digs and 96 kills while Hiracheta, a Fort Dodge Senior High grad, has 287 digs and 54 aces.

Sturgis, McClain and Madlock made the all-Region XI tournament team, with Sturgis garnering MVP honors.

"This season has been extremely memorable for me," McClain said. "Looking back on how my perspective was from playing my freshman year to now as a sophomore is crazy to think about. I really wanted to make sure I was able to be a leader not only on the court, but off the court to not only set a good example to the freshmen but to also make sure they have a good experience.

"I'm beyond proud of all of my teammates, Coach (Sara) Horn and Coach Gabby (Marker), and everyone else that has been a part of this journey for our team and I cannot wait to see what we can do at nationals."