IW volleyball goes 2-1 at CAC Classic

PARAGOULD, Ark. — Iowa Wesleyan Volleyball wrapped up the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) Classic on Saturday, finishing with two wins and a loss in the two day tournament.

The Tigers defeated Crowley’s Ridge College 23-25, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-19 on the opening day and then were topped by Florida College to open day two, 25-9, 25-12 and 25-18. Iowa Wesleyan then bounced back against Haskell Indian Nations University in five sets, 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 19-25 and 15-12.

In their opening set against Crowley’s Ridge, the Tigers were down 4-0 early, but never led, gaining back the lead with five straight points.

After a back and forth battle, the two teams found themselves tied at 16-16. The Pioneers then rattled off four straight points to take a 20-16 advantage.

Iowa Wesleyan never gave up though and was able to come within one late 24-23. The Pioneers were able to complete a kill to end the opening set.

Iowa Wesleyan dominated set two. The Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back, building up a lead as large as 16-7.

The third set saw the opposite to set two. The Pioneers fought tough early and lept out to an 11-4 lead of their own.

The Tigers would battle back. The Tigers rallied off six straight points due to some great serving by Kyra Linkin to give the Tigers a 14-13 lead. After a 15-15 tie, the Tigers scored four more straight thanks to the serving of Leamaris Fuentes.

The rest of the set would go back and forth, but it would end with Malie DaMate finding Morgan Pulido for the kill to win set, 25-22.

In the fourth and final set, Iowa Wesleyan led early 6-4. The Pioneers slowly crawled back into it, cutting it to one, 15-14.

The Tigers would hold strong though as they closed the set on a 10-5 run to take the 25-19 victory.

The Tigers were led offensively by Malie DaMate with 14 kills, right behind her was Emma Lincoln with 10 kills.

Defensively, the Tigers were led by Alexis Hafenstine and Leamaris Fuentes with 32 and 21 digs. Leamaris Fuentes led the Tigers with 21 assists, followed by DaMate with 20.

On day two, the Tigers struggled early.

Out of the gates, the Tigers would be tied with the Florida College 2-2, but the Tigers would give up nine straight points to trail 11-2. The Falcons would continue to dominate the rest of the set and win set one, 25-9.

In set two, after being tied at one, the Tigers would see themselves down 5-1. Florida College would continue to keep on the Tigers, gaining nearly two points for every one point the Tigers scored. The Tigers would fall in set 2, 25-12.

In set three, the Tigers got out to an early 3-1 advantage, but once again the Falcons put together a run to take 12-5 lead.

The Tigers would battle back to make it a five-point game at 17-12 late, but the Tigers would run out of chances, losing the set 25-18.

Offensively, the Tigers were led by Emma Lincoln and Bethany Williams who both finished with 5 kills. Malie DaMate led the Tigers with 7 assists. Alexis Hafenstine finished 29 digs for the Tigers defensively.

The Tigers struggled offensively out of the gates against Haskell Indian Nations University, getting behind 7-0. Despite being down, they strung together five points in a row to put themselves up 17-16 in the set. The Tigers would put together another run, and Bethany Williams would get the set-closing kill to win set one 25-22.

Set two started with the Tigers getting down 4-0 and even 10-6, but the Tigers would tie the match at 11 all. The Fighting Indians would put together a few points of their own but the Tigers would got hot. Malie DaMate closed out the second set for the Tigers with a kill to win 25-23.

Haskell would come out of the gates strong once again in the third set and would never give up the lead. The Fighting Indians made it 12-6 thanks to four straight service aces. The Fighting Indians would close out the set hard, winning, 25-16.

In set four, the Tigers were the ones to start on the right foot, building a 5-1. But once again, the team that struggled to start, would come from behind.

Haskell took the lead at 8-7. The set was a back and forth affair, with the set being tied at 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16. In the end, Haskell would put together the finishing touches to tie the match 2-2.

All knotted at two sets each, the Tigers and Fighting Indians would be in a race to 15 to win the match.

The Tigers got out to an early 5-3 lead, but Haskell once again tied it up at five and seven. After being tied at 7-7, the Fighting Indians would take a 9-7 lead, but the Tigers had other ideas. Iowa Wesleyan would score seven of the next eight points to go up 14-10.

The Fighting Indians would pull within two, at 14-12, but DaMate was able to find Shea Scott for the set-winning and match-winning kill.

The Tigers improve to 4-17 and 2-1 in CAC play with the win. The Tigers were led offensively by DaMate with 13 kills. DaMate also led the Tigers in assists with 24. Right behind DaMate was Leamaris Fuentes with 18 assists. Alexis Hafenstine finished with 33 digs for the Tigers defensively.

The Tigers will be back in action on Oct. 13 as they travel to Forest City, Iowa to take on the Waldorf Warriors at 7 p.m.