The Class 5A No. 5 Jaguars (8-1) capitalized on runs of at least four points in each of three sets during Tuesday’s CIML sweep at the Roundhouse, beating the host Bobcats 25-18, 25-16, 25-13.

Centennial pounded out 23 of its 31 kills from the antennae, stretching the Marshalltown defense to its limits while sprinkling in an efficient attack from the middle. Olivia Anderson led the Jaguars with nine kills from the outside, Delainey Winkel added another seven, while middle hitters Monica Mirembe (6) and Peyton Mitchell (2) made more than enough contributions to keep the Bobcat defense honest.

Marshalltown (3-5) still finished with seven blocks on the night, but it wasn’t enough defense to offset how erratic its offense was.

“I think that there’s really quite a bit that we have to work on, most of it boils down to consistency,” said MHS first-year head coach Kaylee Peschong. “We just need to keep working on consistency and connections, so we’re going to get a lot of reps in this week and make sure we’re staying consistent from top to bottom — all positions.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown junior middle hitter Autumn Finch (9) challenges Ankeny Centennial’s Monica Mirembe for a free ball at the net during Tuesday’s CIML volleyball match at the Roundhouse.

The Bobcats finished with a negative hitting percentage against the capable Jaguar defense. Marshalltown amassed 20 kills but 23 swinging errors in suffering their third-straight defeat — all against ranked 5A teams. Outside hitters Hayden Oetker had seven kills, Sophie Younkin had six and Brittany Sichra added three, while middle hitter Autumn Finch finished with three kills and a team-high four blocks.

Sydney Faltys and Drew Carson shared the setting duties, recording 10 and nine assists, respectively. Libero Kyra Feldman led the defense with 10 digs, Sichra had eight and Younkin seven, while the Bobcats servied 39-for-44 with three aces.

But more attack errors than kills against a highly ranked opponent is too far tilted in the wrong direction.

“I would say there’s just some instances where we could have had a lot better connection, so I think we need to keep working on that,” Peschong said of the Bobcats’ attack. “Obviously Ankeny Centennial is such a great team and they come ready to play and aggressive and great energy all the time, I think that our serve-receive can be a little bit more consistent. Setting, hitting, serving — everything, top to bottom — just consistency.

“I think there were moments where we were doing some really great things and there were moments where we were kind of making some goofy errors.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Marshalltown never led in the first set, but it was the Bobcats’ most competitive match of the three. Younkin had four kills and Oetker three, but the Jaguars countered with a fluent attack from the right side that tipped the advantage. Hannah Kurth had three of her four kills consecutively to help the Jags take a 23-15 lead before eventually finishing off the 25-18 opener.

Centennial made runs of five and eight points in the second set to quickly pull out of the Bobcats’ reach, fueled by too many MHS miscues.

Marshalltown nabbed its largest lead (two) early in the third set, 5-3, before the Jaguars rattled off six in a row to regain the lead for good. A trio of four-point rallies followed as Centennial ran away with the CIML sweep.

“I talked with the girls about trying to cut the runs because there were some runs [Centennial] got on where we let one point turn into five, so we have to work on cutting the runs,” Peschong said. “[Centennial] worked around our block really well. We have a pretty good blocking team and they really were chiseling around the block. They are very athletic and smart volleyball players so we saw a lot of that tonight where we were kind of caught on our heels, not quite ready for everything they were throwing our way.”

Oetker, Sichra, Younkin and Drew Carson each came up with one service ace for the Bobcats, but those weren’t enough to offset five errors from behind the line. Centennial scored seven aces while going 70-for-72 from the service stripe.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“They definitely played around with our serve-receive, which again we’ve got to keep working on our consistency,” Peschong said. “We had a pretty solid gameplan on who we needed to attack (serving), but again we have to execute.”

The Bobcats now have three days to prepare for the Cedar Falls Invite on Saturday at Holmes Junior High School.

“I’m looking forward to getting in the gym tomorrow and start working on all of that,” Peschong said. “It’s nice to have three days, especially after a loss like this, to prepare ourselves because the Cedar Falls tournament will be a great challenge for us as well.”