September 25, 2021
NIACC picks up pair of wins
MASON CITY - The NIACC volleyball team picked up a pair of 3-1 wins Saturday at its home tournament.
NIACC (12-13 overall) topped the St. Ambrose White Team 25-18, 25-23, 13-25, 25-17. The Trojans also stopped Madison College 20-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-22.
"Overall it was a good day in the gym," said NIACC assistant coach Abbey Knowlton, who was filling in for head coach Chris Brandt, who was attending a family wedding. "The girls are always working hard.
"They adapted well to changes throughout the day and did what they needed to do to get the job done. It's exciting to see what they can accomplish when playing together as a whole."
In the match against St. Ambrose White, NIACC's Grace Tobin had 15 kills and 12 digs. Samantha Coron had 20 assists, 24 digs, two kills and two ace serves.
Also, Kaylee Ollendieck had 12 digs, Ryley Wetlaufer had 13 assists, two ace serves and five digs, Megan Vidmar had five kills and Kaylah Kaschub had three kills. Halsie Keltner had nine kills and eight digs and Kyla Moore had six kills, four digs and three blocks.
"We started out slow and probably were making too many unforced errors, which in return makes the girls have to work harder," Knowlton said, "but they clearly never back down from the challenge.
"The girls have been trying to really focus on controlling what they can control (effort, attitudes, etc.) and those are definitely things that are in the back of their minds while playing. It was nice to see them bounce back from a funk in set 3 and come back and control the whole set to finish off the match."
Against Madison College, Ollendieck had 20 digs and four ace serves, Coron had 22 assists and 15 digs, Wetlaufer had 20 assists and five digs, Kaschub had five kills and two blocks and Keltner had eight kills, two ace serves and 13 digs.
NIACC's Tobin had 21 kills and 29 digs, Tiegan Barkema had six kills and Moore had five blocks and three kills.
"It was fun to watch the girls compete today with purpose," Knowlton said. "We have been talking a lot about being disciplined and intentional, which I believe they started actually doing those small things the second match.
"It was fun to watch. They didn't let those small hiccups amount to much and were in control most of the match."
NIACC returns to action Wednesday in an ICCAC match at Kirkwood.
