Tritons Close Regular Season with Sweep of Iowa Western

Triton Volleyball closed their regular season on Saturday with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-20 sweep of DI Iowa Western. Triton Head Coach, Sara Horn, wanted a tough matchup before heading into post season play. "We scheduled Iowa Western this weekend because we knew we wanted a tough opponent going into regional tournament week. We didn't want to be idle or go multiple weeks without a tough match. Our players definitely rose to the challenge! It was great to see them not only come out strong and sweep a D1 opponent, but be able to battle back from some deficits and not back down." 

The Tritons trailed by five in each of the first two sets before leading throughout set three. Natalie Hagadon led the way for the Tritons with 13 digs and 5 aces. Emily Goodner added 11 digs and 7 kills, Anabel Seaman recorded 16 assists, and Tayla Sampson had 10 kills. As a team, the Tritons tallied 34 kills and 47 digs.

The Tritons begin Region 11 Tournament play on Wednesday night as they welcome Western Iowa Tech to Hodges Fieldhouse. Coach Horn knows the Tritons will be ready. "Going into post season play, we're feeling good with where we're at! The players have worked hard this season and continue to take steps forward, even after some setbacks. Looking at our week, WIT comes in after taking #3 seed Northeast to the wire on Wednesday, losing in the 5th set. They have some weapons and a really talented setter that can get her team going!"

Semifinal and finals matches will be played on Saturday (11/9) and Sunday (11/10) at the highest seed. "Our semifinal match would be against Northeast or Ellsworth, two teams that played us really well. Either team will be a challenge and our girls will be up for it!" added Horn. "The top seeds on the other half of the bracket are DMACC and Kirkwood. DMACC is playing their best ball of the season. It took them a little while to figure out their lineup, but they've been playing as well as anyone. Kirkwood has been solid all season long, and we'd love another shot at them. We've split our contests the last few years, and we'd love the chance to even the score this season!" 

Match time on Wednesday (11/6) is 7:00 PM in Hodges Fieldhouse. Live steam can be found at www.youtube.com/@TritonNation

Coach's Key Moment – 

Libero Olívia Benson took a shot to the eye, knocking her contact out. Natalie Hagadon went in and didn't miss a beat and had a great match for us as her first time playing libero.

Coach's Key Statistic -

We had 10 aces as a team and had more aces than errors. This is the first time since early October we've reached this stat, which is important because our serving was very strong at the beginning of the season but hasn't been as strong these past couple months. Getting our best server, Natalie Hagadon back in the serving rotation helps!

Game images can be found at www.facebook.com/ictritons