The Western Iowa Tech volleyball team made valiant pushes in each set but ultimately fell short in a sweep at the hands of Southeastern Community College in West Burlington on Wednesday night.

The Comets lost 25-27, 23-25, 19-25 and are now 6-13 overall and 2-4 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference. 

Head coach Dante Frattini said the team needs to stay focused on the positives. He believes they're playing with heart, playing more together, and maintaining their fight regardless of the circumstance.

"That's a huge improvement from where we were at earlier this season," Frattini said. "There were times where body language and effort were affected by the score, but tonight the adversity was actually a motivator. You saw a sense of urgency and a belief that we could always compete. That felt really good."

The loss was the Comets' fourth straight, including three in ICCAC play and one non-conference match.

"It's tough right now, these players want to win and to lose four in a row is something that can really overshadow the work they're putting in and the potential this group has," Frattini said. "We can't lose sight of who we are and what we can accomplish just because we're not getting the results right now.

"We're playing well enough to win 80 percent of the time. If we can improve our floor -- minimizing errors and maintaining our competitiveness -- we'll find ourselves with many more chances to close sets."`

The Comets almost came back to win after trailing by as many as nine points in the second set. Southeastern led 12-3, 20-12, 22-15 and 24-19, but WIT never relented. A four-point serving run by outside Lilou Henry and a three-point run by Maya Augustine got the Comets to within one point, 24-23, and forced a Southeastern timeout.

Kaira Willits had 29 assists and a team-high 17 digs. Jagoda Szczepaniak led the Comets with 11 kills and added 16 digs. Kealohilani DeNisi scored six kills. Middle blocker Melanie Koval had two kills and two blocks. Libero Eriza Tamez had 13 digs.

The Comets had 10 aces, doubling that of the Blackhawks.

"One of our goals was to serve aggressive, and I was proud of how we stuck to that," Frattini said. "We had seven serving errors, but we'll take that if we're acing and keeping them out of system as much as possible. That has to be a core identity of this team. We just need to go for it from the service line."

Defensive specialist Lotta Lischka accounted for two aces and 10 digs. Augustine led with three aces and also had 11 digs.

Comets lose in four in rematch against Raiders

One of the Comets' key early-season moments was closing a five-set win against Central on a neutral court at the Northeast Community College tournament in Norfolk, Nebraska.

The Raiders were ready for the rematch and won 12-25, 11-25, 25-19, 22-25 on Friday, September 22, in Columbus.

"I had a feeling they'd come out hungry for revenge. That's a good team that's very well coached and, I'm sure like they felt like they shouldn't have lost that first game," Frattini said. "They were ready and it just took us too long to match their intensity."

Western Iowa Tech's outside hitters led the way with 15 kills from Szczepaniak (.375 hitting percentage) and 11 from Henry (.273). Middles Vienne Meszes and Sajai Jackson each had four kills, while Melanie Koval added three.

Willits ran an efficient offense -- especially in the final two sets -- and finished with 44 assists.

WIT totaled 34 kills in the third and fourth sets, though nine fourth-set hitting errors gave the final edge to Central.

"It was great to see Lilou be a huge spark for us," Frattini said. "A minor injury had been limiting her court-time, especially early on in season when she couldn't even fully practice -- she was basically a DS. But now that she's a full go and we're finally getting the full Lilou experience.

"You can just feel how much she loves playing and when she gets a kill, her energy coarses through the team."

Comets can't close against Ellsworth

The Comets held three set points but couldn't close the Ellsworth Panthers in a three-set home loss on Thursday, September 21.

WIT had chances to push the match to a fourth set with third-set leads of 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25 before a service error, dig error and under-the-net violation gave Ellsworth the three straight points to take the ICCAC match.

Maya Augustine had 13 kills, 11 digs and an ace in another solid all-around performance. Eriza Tamez led the Comets with 19 digs and Kaira Willits had 29 assists.

"This was a frustrating game at the time, but I think it's helped up prioritize fight and heart in the matches since," Frattini said.

The Comets fell behind 12-5 in the first set and let Ellsworth go on a 15-5 run to close the second, putting them in an 0-2 hole before they started playing their best volleyball in the third set.

"We talked about it in the locker room right after, we keep digging ourselves a 10-foot hole before banding together for a 9-foot climb. You admire the heart but it's ultimately going to leave us falling short."

Comets take set from No. 19 DMACC

The Comets won the second set in a four-set loss to the 19th-ranked team in the nation on Tuesday, September 19.

Kealohilani DeNisi hit .368 with 9 kills on 19 swings in three sets played. Kaira Willits earned another double-double with 37 assists and 12 digs. Eriza Tamez led the Comets with 13 digs.

Maya Augustine had 5 kills and an ace in WIT's second-set win. DeNisi notched three kills on eight swings and Meszes had a kill and two blocks.