Spartans fall in home opener

First-year coach Brianna Maitlen said her Southwestern players got a baptism under fire in Iowa Community College Athletic Conference volleyball play in Wednesday’s quick 3-0 loss.

In the ICCAC Division II opener for both squads, the visiting Blackhawks sailed by scores of 25-7, 25-11 and 25-9 in just 62 minutes front of a good home opener crowd featuring an ample and supportive student section.

The Spartans, relying heavily on freshmen in Maitlen’s initial campaign, had a brief competitive spurt in the second set by taking a 6-4 lead and an 8-8 deadlock before Southeastern opened it up on an 11-2 run.

“During that stretch we were getting good passes and moving our feet,” Maitlen said. “But as soon as they blocked us or dug up our kill, we just stopped. We have to learn to be more comfortable playing with a lead, and play more relaxed out there. We froze up at times and didn’t get good passes up. I could see we had a lot of nerves paying in front of the home crowd.”

Southwestern, now 0-3 overall, has two matches Friday in the Marshalltown Tournament. Maitlen said her squad, with only two sophomores available — returnee Beatriz Goncalves is out with an injury — just needs more court time to get competitive in ICCAC play.

“I’ll also put it on me for not playing last weekend,” Maitlen said. “This team (Southeastern) played five games last weekend, so they can begin to gel together.”

The former Sioux City West head coach said communication on the court was lacking in the home loss.

“There was no talking on that volleyball court tonight,” she said. “We need more experience to see things on the court and play together. We have to trust each other and communicate. Plus, you have to give (Southeastern) credit. They were digging up some good hits tonight. They were reading us well.”

McKenna Marlow led Southeastern with 13 of her team’s 24 kills. Southwestern’s Whitney Hollins, 6-2 freshman from Aurora, Colorado, finished with five kills and four solo blocks. Emily Strait had a team-high six kills and 15 digs. Ruby Hernandez-Clavell collected 12 digs.

SWCC statistics

Attacks (kills) — Emily Strait 6, Whitney Hollins 5, Audrey Boban 3, Skyelar Lawal 3.

Blocks (solo-assists) — Hollins 4-2, Boban 1-0, Lawal 2-0.

Digs — Strait 15, Hernandez-Clavell 12.

Setting (assists) — Cadence Perkins 21.

Serving (aces) — Sophie Lyle 1, Hernandez-Clavell 1.