The Tigers hosted a triangular against the Grand View University junior varsity and Hawkeye Community College on Saturday at the Student Activity Center, and after beating the Vikings in straight sets for their 30th win of the year the the MCC women had to face off against the NJCAA Division II No. 11 RedTails, a team they had lost to in straight sets back in early September.

Marshalltown and Hawkeye split each of the first two sets, with the Tigers winning set one, 25-23, and the RedTails winning set two, 25-19, but MCC put its foot down in each of the next two sets to win both by a 25-17 margin and earn a new school single-season record 31st victory.

Tiger head coach Justin Hoskins said after losing the second set he and the team made a switch on the court that worked wonders in the final two sets.

“We needed to ball control a little better than we did in that second set, but the big thing is we made a little bit of a lineup change,” Hoskins said. “I felt like that gave us a little better matchup with their middles. We understood going into it they were going to have three rotations that they were better than us in, so how do we minimize those three rotations and make runs when we were in the better rotations for us? We made a little bit of a change with how we came out in set three and four and it paid off for us.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown Community College defenders Jelena Dukic (7) and Chiara Mottola (8) contest a hit by Hawkeye Community College attacker Jessica Hopkins (9) during the Tigers’ four-set win over the RedTails at the Student Activity Center on Saturday.

Outside hitters Elena Yee, Sadie Smith and Marija Egic were all extremely effective for MCC (31-5) in the win over Hawkeye (17-7).

Yee finished with a team-high 16 kills, followed by Smith with 15 and Egic with 14. Hoskins said all three were fantastic, and they were helped by some great sets by sophomore Jelena Dukic.

“All three of our pins did a nice job because we were able to keep them off balance,” Hoskins said. “Any time we are able to push that ball out to the outside or jack it back to our backside is really going to open up some swings for those pins, and I thought Jelena did a nice job of mixing it up and freeing them up for some swings where they didn’t have blockers camped out on them.”

Dukic, who finished with 49 assists in the win over the RedTails, is the lone sophomore on the team this year. Because of that fact, she said she is even happier about what kind of season the Tigers have had this year.

“I am really proud of that because when I first came here last year the program was pretty down, but coach Justin pushes us to play better and give it our best so we push each other and have made a pretty good team so far,” she said.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Hoskins said none of the team’s success would be possible without the leadership of Dukic both on and off the court.

“She is one of those girls I definitely am not looking forward to replacing,” he said. “She’s one who not only brings what you see on the court but intangibles as well. She really does a nice job putting us in positions to be successful and she has done a great job with the leadership role. She has a good feel for the game and understands how to execute a gameplan.”

Smith, a South Tama County graduate from last year, said Dukic has been huge for her development as a freshman.

“It’s so awesome to have especially a setter that’s a sophomore because she has run everything before and we are learning from her while we are on the court,” Smith said. “Whatever coach is teaching us in practice she is also helping teach us on the court while we are playing the games.”

Smith and Yee specifically provide the Tigers with a great duo of hitters on the outside, with Smith bringing more power to her hits and Yee having a more tactical approach. Hoskins said that one-two punch can be a killer if opponents don’t prepare for it correctly.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“It’s nice having two outsides that are very different from each other because teams have to prepare for them differently, or one outside is going to have a good match if they play them both the same way,” he said. “Having them so different from each other really is nice being able to give teams a different look.”

Neither Smith nor Yee are intimidating physically, with Smith coming in at 5-foot-8 and Yee only 5-5, but they both find ways to get it done at the net.

“It’s actually kind of fun because we come up to the net and are facing the person across from us and we are the little people,” Smith said with a smile. “We just think, ‘hey, wait until you see us jump.'”

While Smith, Yee, Egic and Dukic were rolling offensively, the Tiger defense also did a great job stifling a powerful Hawkeye attack. Jessica Hopkins and Megan Hudson both are big hitters for the RedTails, and they finished with 18 and 16 kills apiece, but as the match went on MCC did well to adjust to their defensive approach.

Libero Halee Pedro had a team-high 34 digs, including 21 in the final two sets, and Hoskins said the girls all around played solid fundamental defense, which clearly grated on their opponents.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“We are not expecting them to get the ball perfectly to target every time, we have to get our platform in front of the ball and keep it off of the ground. I feel like we did a nice job of doing that for the most part today and frustrating the other side of the court,” Hoskins said. “Any time we are able to keep the ball off, even if we don’t get a great swing as a result of it, constantly having them be frustrated and have to keep swinging and trying to earn those long points, I feel like we get an advantage off of that.”

The Tigers have three games left on the schedule this week before setting their eyes on the postseason, but Hoskins said his girls have already accomplished so much this year.

“I can’t ask for much more from this group for this year,” he said. “Sitting at 31-5 is a great feeling, but I am really looking forward to having a big group of them back and continuing what we are doing next year.”

As for getting a new school record for wins, Smith said she and the rest of the team already have a goal for next season.

“We feel amazing being able to make history on this school, especially with one sophomore and the rest of us freshmen. We can’t wait for next year, it’s great,” she said.