Comets volleyball finishes Northeast in five

For the second time in its inagural season, the Western Iowa Tech volleyball team won a five-set match against an opponent with a resume that boasts a national ranking. 

The Comets beat the Northeast Hawks 25-21, 19-25, 11-25, 25-21, 15-8 on Wednesday night at the Robert E. Dunker Center.

Northeast spent three weeks in the NJCAA Division II rankings, reaching a peak ranking of 14 in Week 3 of the season. Wednesday's win avenged a three-set loss to the Hawks in the Comets' second-ever home game on August 23. This was also an official Iowa Community College Athletic Conference match while August's match was non-conference.

"This team is capable of truly amazing things," head coach Dante Frattini said. "Our challenge all season has been consistency, and while that comes with time and experience, we have to keep pushing ourselves to create the mindset and the habits that allow for consistent performances. By definition, there's some ups and downs in a five-set match, but we battled and stayed engaged all night long.

"Everyone should be so proud of that game. It was and will be a goosebump giver."

The Comets scored 43 kills, and while they hit only .109 for the match, they hit .140, .184 and .286 in their three winning sets.

"Even when things weren't going well we didn't back off and play fearful," Frattini said. "That allowed us to keep our aggression and force them into errors, especially in that fifth set. You don't win fifth sets by playing scared and tipping."

Player stats will be added once they become official.

Western Iowa Tech (7-13, 3-4 ICCAC) is in ninth place in conference. The Southeastern Blackhawks are also 3-4 but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker due to their win on September 27.

Four teams, including Northeast, are tied for fourth at 4-3 in conference while Iowa Central, Kirkwood and Des Moines Area are tied at the top with 6-1 ICCAC records.

The Comets beat Central Community College at Northeast's tournament on August 25. Central is currently ranked 13th in the nation and was as high as 12th during its five-week run in the poll. 

WIT travels to Mason City for a non-conference tournament at North Iowa Area this weekend.