Volleyball splits two matches at Morningside tri-match

The Western Iowa Tech volleyball team split two competitive matches over nine sets Monday afternoon at Morningside University.

The Comets (5-9) beat the Minnesota West Bluejays in four sets (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-23) immediately following a five set loss (20-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18, 4-15) to host Morningside JV.

"It's a credit to our players for finding the will to finish against Minnesota West," head coach Dante Frattini said. "Losing in five can take it out of you, especially when the next game's first serve is in 20 minutes. But we didn't let ourselves make excuses, we didn't let ourselves think about being tired."

The Comets had to make an eight-point comeback to win the fourth and deciding set against the Bluejays.

Down 20-12 and another fifth set looming, the Comets went on a 10-2 run to tie the set at 22-22.

A kill by freshman outside Maya Augustine put WIT in front 23-22, the Comets' first lead since 9-8. Three plays later freshman opposite Kealohilani DeNisi clinched the win with her eighth kill of the match.

"The Bluejays are an incredibly resilient and competitive team, and it took a lot of resilience to do what we did," Frattini said. "Everyone was involved in that comeback. Injury and illness limited our personnel options, so the only option was to go compete."

A commitment to aggressive serves gave the Comets a late edge. Freshman outside Jagoda Szczepaniak went on a four-point serving run, freshman setter Mariana Hernandez Florez tallied an ace (her last of three in the match) and freshman DS Lotta Lischka pushed the Comets from down 21-22 to tied at 23-23.

Augustine led the Comets with 18 kills, followed by Szczepaniak's 13, DeNisi's eight, Cooper Champoux's six and Vienne Meszes four. Melanie Koval and Hernandez Florez each had one.

Freshman setter Kaira Willits led the WIT attack with 31 assists. Hernandez Florez had 17.

Szczepaniak (19 digs) and Willits (12) each scored double-doubles for the Comets.

Freshman libero Eriza Tamez had 14 digs and Hernandez Florez had 10.

The Comets had one of their best blocking performances of the season, totaling nine as a team. Koval led with one solo block and six block assists. Augustine and DeNisi had three assists each

Szczepaniak and Hernandez Florez each had three aces, while Lishcka, Augustine and Willits each had two.

Minnesota West thwarted WIT's comeback attempt in the second set. The Comets tied the game at 21-21 after trailing 19-15, but late errors gave the set to the Bluejays.

"That was poor coaching. I think I started to overcoach in the second match and eventually realized the best thing was to just take a step back and let them play," Frattini said. "We're always at our best when we're playing free and having fun, we just have to get better at capturing that feeling while maintaining a deliberate focus. Sometimes it's hard to do both."

The Comets forced a fifth set against the host Mustangs after dropping the first two sets.

Unbalanced offense and hitting errors plagued the Comets early. 

"I think 10 of our 12 kills in the first set came from our outsides," Frattini said. "They did everything they could and performed well but we needed to spread the ball around the keep their defense honest. We got more production from the right side in the next two sets and that helped a lot."

Szczepaniak (15 kills), Augustine (12) and DeNisi (11) led the offense against the Mustangs. Willits had 30 assists, 16 digs and two aces.

Tamez led the back row with 27 digs, Augustine had 19 and Szczepaniak had 16.

WIT resumes ICCAC play at home Wednesday night against Southwestern Community College. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Robert E. Dunker Center.