MARSHALLTOWN — Southwestern’s volleyball team swept through four opponents — including nationally ranked Fort Scott (Kan.) — at the Marshalltown Community College tournament last weekend.
Southwestern opened the event with a 25-12, 24-26, 25-22, 25-23 victory over the host Tigers. Then came the big upset over No. 11-ranked Fort Scott, 17-25, 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 15-7.
On Saturday, the Spartans defeated Southeast (Neb.) 25-21, 25-15, 25-18 before finishing with a 26-24, 25-17, 25-16 win over Graceland JV.
“We had much better communication over the weekend and our middle hitters had their best hitting percentage since the season started,” SWCC coach Ting Liu said. “Our tough serves and defense helped us a lot in winning the games.”
Carmen Subbert had 17 kills and Krechele Brown provided 21 digs in the opening win over Division I Marshalltown Community College, which fell to 0-7.
SWCC, now 8-6, was again led by Subbert’s 16 kills and 12 by Brooke Decker in the 3-2 win over Fort Scott. Brown had 26 digs and Brittany Langendeorfer had 16. Marie Palmer and Madison Walston brought balance to the attack with eight kills each.
Versatile setter Hanna Luther finished with 46 assists, 11 digs and a pair of kills. Shannon Eads contributed six digs and an assist. Also key was the serving of Xuntong Zhang with five aces.
In the 3-0 sweep of Southeast Nebraska, Subbert and Zhang each pounded nine kills and Walston had seven. Luther finished with 29 assists, six digs and two service aces.
Zhang had a big match at the net against Graceland with 16 kills. Subbert was active with 11 kills and 13 digs. Langendoerfer totaled 14 digs.
The Spartans return home Wednesday for a big conference match against seventh-ranked DMACC, now 8-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
Marshalltown Invitational
SWCC 3, Marshalltown 1
Attacks (kills) — Carmen Subbert 17, Xuntong Zhang 11, Brooke Decker 4.
Digs — Krechele Brown 21, Subbert 13, Hanna Luther 7, Zhang 7.
Blocks (solo-assists) — Decker 1-3, Luther 0-2, Zhang 1-1, Subbert 0-1.
Service aces — Luther 2, Brown 1.
Setting assists — Luther 31.
SWCC 3, Fort Scott (Kan.) 2
Attacks (kills) — Subbert 16, Decker 12, Zhang 8, Madison Walston 8, Marie Palmer 8, Luther 2.
Digs — Brown 26, Brittany Langendoerfer 16, Subbert 15, Luther 11, Shannon Eads 6.
Blocks (solo-assists) — Zhang 1-2, Decker 0-2, Walston 0-2, Palmer 0-1, Subbert 0-1.
Service aces — Zhang 5, Brown 2.
Setting assists — Luther 46, Eads 1.
SWCC 3, Southeast (Neb.) 0
Attacks (kills) — Subbert 9, Zhang 9, Walston 7, Palmer 6, Decker 4.
Digs — Zhang 7, Brown 6, Luther 6, Subbert 3.
Blocks (solo-assists) — Decker 2-2, Luther 1-1, Zhang 1-1, Walston 0-2.
Service aces — Zhang 2, Brown 2, Luther 2.
Setting assists — Luther 29.
SWCC 3, Graceland JV 0
Attacks (kills) — Zhang 16, Subbert 11.
Digs — Langendoerfer 14, Subbert 13, Brown 7.
Blocks (solo-assists) — Luther 0-2.
Service aces — Subbert 1, Luther 1, Brown 1.
Setting assists — Luther 28, Brown 1.