The Ellsworth Community College volleyball team hosted North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) Wednesday in their first home exhibition, losing a tough five-set match 3-2. The Panthers came out strong and won the first two sets, but couldn't hold on for the final three.

"We came out strong to make an early statement in set one (25-18), and an even stronger statement when we came back and won the second set 28-26," says Head Coach Ashley Clark. "However, NIACC pushed back hard, as I expected, and got away with the win in a disappointing five-set match. We needed to communicate a little better on the floor and serve a little tougher throughout the match in order to win."

Freshman Tiffany Jacobson led the Panthers in kills with 22, plus an overall hitting percentage of .365. Sophomore Mary Goergen had 21 kills and two blocks, and sophomore Allison Kuennen led the team with three blocks.

The Panthers are on the road again today (Friday, Sept. 4) to play in a weekend tournament at Highland Community College in Kansas. They'll face Southwestern Community College today at 3 pm and Highland Community College at 7pm; tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 5) they'll go up against Laramie County at 11 am, then face Coffeyville at 1 pm.