MASON CITY, IOWA -- Ellsworth CC volleyball coach Sara Jesse may have found out some things about her team on Wednesday night and that knowledge makes her feel good about what's possible the remainder of the season. The Panthers found themselves in a big hole in their ICCAC match at NIACC, dropping the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-18. But ECC came back with a vengeance, taking the next three sets by scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 15-13 to claim their first conference win of the year. It was also their first win in a match than went five sets. And they finished with a flourish, recording 10 kills in the final-set.
"It takes a lot of resilience on our end to fight back from an 0-2 deficit," Jesse said. "We knew this match was crucial heading towards the end of the season, and the focus and composure the whole team had despite the slow start is a culmination and experience from our previous matches."
The Panthers had season-highs in service aces with 14 and in solo blocks with 12. Haley Forge and Nuria Bravo Santos each had four aces and Gabi Damiano had three. Emma Rosonke, already in the ECC record book for blocks in a single season, added to her total with six of the team's dozen blocks. Six Panthers had at least eight digs with Haley Forge leading the way with 21 and Damiano adding 20. The ECC victory also featured a strong attack as there were 46 kills, two away from the season-best. Louise Lion topped Ellsworth with 11 kills, one more than Damiano. Haley Forge, Yoliann De Jesus-Tejedor and Rosonke all added eight kills. DeJesus-Tejedor hit .412 for the match and Lion .333.
"There were multiple keys in the match," according to the ECC coach. "Compared to the first time playing NIACC this season, we controlled the serve and pass game a lot better. We were executing what we wanted to do at the service line and were able to decrease their service runs in the later sets. Our overall defensive effort increased dramatically and was anchored by Haley and Gabi, who combined for 41 digs. The front row did a great job at the net and made it very easy for our defense to give us opportunities offensively. Blocking in the third set definitely sparked our run and gave us the momentum we needed for the remainder of the match."
The win moves Ellsworth into a four-way tie with Northeast, Iowa Lakes and Southwestern in the ICCAC standings and keeps alive the Panthers' hopes of making the postseason league tournament.
Jesse said, "This was a great team win with many contributions coming from every individual. This team can still accomplish so much even with only four matches left in our regular season. Especially at this point in the season this is the direction we want to be going with building momentum and consistent play."
The Panthers will play three times next week: at home against Emmaus Bible College on Monday and DMACC on Wednesday, before heading to Marshalltown to face the Tigers next Saturday.