- Sophomore Coryl Matheny leads DMACC with seven kills
- Sophomore Emma Flathers comes away with 18 assists
- Hitting woes hamper Bears in final two matches
The DMACC volleyball team suffered its third loss of the season to Iowa Central Community College (ICCC) and saw its season come to a close November 17 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) 2023 Division II Volleyball Championship at Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids.
The Tritons, seeded fifth, defeated 11th-seeded DMACC by set scores of 25-18, 25-23, 25-11 in a consolation bracket match to continue their quest for a third-place finish in the tournament. DMACC saw its season end at 29-12.
The Bears developed hitting woes in the third set of a championship bracket quarterfinal match against Parkland College (PC) on Nov. 16 and those woes continued in the match against ICCC.
DMACC hit just .071 with 23 kills from 85 attacks with 16 hitting errors. The Bears hit .065 in the first set, .273 in the second set and -.238 in the third set.
Sophomore Coryl Matheny of Glenwood pace DMACC with eight kills and sophomore Zophi Hendricks of Defiance had six. Hendricks led the Bears in hitting, getting her kills from 14 attacks with just one hitting error for a .357 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Emma Flathers of Treynor topped DMACC in assists with 18 and sophomore Maddie Dunham of Nevada led the way in digs with eight. Dunham played for sophomore Kenya Prescott of Carroll who missed the Bears' last two matches because of illness. Sophomore Jessica Heintz of Polk City had six digs and Matheny, Flathers and sophomore Eden Wilson of Conrad had five apiece. Freshman Abbi Brenizer of Norwalk had four block assists and Wilson and Flathers had three apiece.
DMACC's 3-1 loss to third-seeded PC sent the Bears to the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
A gritty performance kept them in the match through the first two sets with the Cobras winning the opener, 30-28, and DMACC taking the second set, 25-23. But the Bears hit .000 in the third set and -.026 in the fourth set with PC taking both, 25-15 and 25-14. DMACC finished with an .086 hitting percentage, getting 43 kills from 151 attacks with 30 hitting errors.
DMACC was led by Matheny with 14 kills. Hendricks added 11 kills and Brenizer came away with eight.
Flathers led DMACC in assists with 36 and freshman Lexie Lane of Renwick topped the Bears in digs with 16. Flathers and Dunham had 14 digs apiece and Matheny finished with 12. DMACC had 12 blocks, including four block assists by Matheny and sophomore Monica Mirembe of Ankeny.
PC didn't hit much better than DMACC, getting 53 kills from 169 attacks with 25 hitting errors for a .166 percentage. But the Cobras had a huge advantage in blocking where Brooklyn Holdener had 12 block assists and Sami Schulte came away with six. PC totaled 24 blocks to 12 for DMACC.