WEST BURLINGTON, IOWA -- The Ellsworth volleyball team came up empty in its appearance at a tournament hosted by Southeastern CC.  The Panthers were defeated by Heartland (Ill.) and Highland (Ill.) on Friday and by Iowa Lakes and Spoon River (Ill.) Saturday.  ECC lost to Heartland 25-11, 25-9, 25-12 and to Highland 25-15, 25-20, 25-18.  The results were 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 against Iowa Lakes and 25-16, 25-21, 25-23 vs. Spoon River.

Emma Rosonke led in kills in both Friday matches, getting four against Heartland and seven in the Highland match.  Hanna Forge had a team-best 11 assists in the opening match and 16 in the next one.  Haley Forge's six digs were tops against Heartland.  The Panthers served seven aces vs. Highland -- two each by Haley Forge, Nuria Bravo Santos and Alyssa Morgan.  Jada Smith had a season-high 12 digs to pace ECC against Highland while Haley Forge and Morgan added 11 apiece.

After getting four blocks in the second Friday match, Yoliann De Jesus-Tejedor contributed a total of nine blocks Saturday.  Rosonke led with eight kills against Iowa Lakes and Louise Lion provided some strong net play with seven kills in the match with Iowa Lakes and a team-leading 10 against Spoon River.  Hanna Forge and Bravo Santos combined for 28 digs against the Lakers and Meghan VanDePol added 10 digs and served two aces.  Morgan had five ace serves and 17 digs to lead those stats against Spoon River.  Nine different Panthers had at least one dig, leading to a team total of 50 digs.

Ellsworth plays at home for the first time this Wednesday, the Panthers taking on conference foe Iowa Central.