- Freshmen Jaelynne Clarke and Lily Huizenga lead DMACC with 12 and 11 kills respectively
- Freshman Sydney Anderson comes away with 18 assists and sophomore Halie Mahi adds 17
- Clarke and sophomore Emma Jones finished with 25 digs apiece
Several freshman made major contributions as the DMACC volleyball team opened Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) play with a 3-1 win over Iowa Lakes Community College September 4 at Estherville.
The Bears, ranked 19th in this week's Division II poll from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), won by set scores of 25-16, 24-26, 25-16, 25-17.
Freshman Jaelynne Clarke of Alliance, Neb., led DMACC offensively with 12 kills and freshman Lily Huizenga of Orange City added 11. Freshman Sydney Anderson of Marshalltown topped the Bears in assists with 18 and Clarke was the co-leader in digs with 25. And freshmen Emma Leichti of Ankeny and Danica Wrage of Waterloo led the way in blocks with eight apiece. All eight of Leichti's blocks were block assists and Wrage came away with seven block assists. Leichti also had six kills.
Sophomores Halia Mahi of Cedar Falls and Emma Jones of Readlyn made their presence known with 17 assists from Mahi and 25 digs from Jones. Freshmen Lauren Sandvold of Cedar Falls and Mahi also reached double figures in digs with 15 and 14 respectively.
DMACC hit .211 in the win, getting 45 kills from 147 attacks with 14 hitting errors.
Jones helped DMACC offensively with three ace serves and sophomore Abbi Brenizer of Norwalk had two ace serves, five kills from 18 attacks with no hitting errors and six block assists.
The DMACC volleyball team will play in the Kirkwood Tournament Sept. 7 at Cedar Rapids. The Bears will face two ranked teams in Heartland (Ill.) Community College (HCC) and Sauk Valley Community College (SVCC). HCC is ranked fourth in NJCAA Division II and SVCC is ranked 14th.