On Community Night at the Student Activity Center, Western Iowa Tech made itself right at home.

The Marshalltown Community College volleyball squad opened its doors to the public for a night of free admission, but the hometown Tigers couldn’t capitalize on an uptick in attendance in a 3-0 loss to the visiting Comets on Wednesday night.

Western Iowa Tech (17-8, 2-2) improved to 7-0 in true road matches this season while sending host MCC (1-6, 1-5) to 0-3 at home, winning 25-10, 25-17, 25-17.

In a match where momentum was hard to get for Marshalltown, the Tigers’ fleeting glimpse of it wasn’t enough to deliver a victory.

“They are just a good team in general, and they came out ready to play,” MCC interim head coach Carlee Flack said of Western Iowa Tech. “They had a long bus ride from Sioux City, but I give them credit because they came out ready to play.

“I don’t think they’re necessarily anything that we haven’t seen before, I just think this comes back to us not being ready to go, which was evident in the first set. We were very slow out of the games, and it’s hard to come back from that in volleyball.”

The Comets scored the first four points of the night, led 11-3 at one point and used a six-point surge to go in front 22-8. The first set closed quietly at 25-10.

MCC made its move in the second set, capitalizing on a six-point run served up by freshman outside hitter Morghan Harvey to climb back from an 11-4 deficit. Harvey had two aces and a kill to start the rally, but a well-placed ball by WIT’s Sunny Faiivae stopped the Tigers one point short of tying the score.

Violet Hougland got that point back with a kill from the right side, but Western Iowa Tech took the next two and held off the Tigers the rest of the way.

“We go on spurts,” said Flack. “We had energy in the second set, especially after a good block or a hard kill. That’s great and that’s when we get excited, but we started out slow and that’s where it’s hard to get the energy when you’re making some errors. It’s hard to get excited about that.”

A big block by Addy Stull to start the third set gave the Tigers their first lead of the night, and MCC found its groove in a back-and-forth match. The Tigers were the first to 3, 7 and 8, but a couple miscues proved costly and Western Iowa Tech took advantage.

The score was tied at 10-all before a kill by WIT’s Juli Marie Voelkel brok the tie for the last time, and a swinging error by MCC made it a two-point deficit. Harvey retailiated with a kill, but that would be the last time the Tigers were within a point.

The Comets led 20-14 behind a series of kills for Faiivae and Voelkel, but MCC made one last push. Imigyn Stratton put down an overpass at the net to make it 20-17, but Western Iowa Tech tallied the final five points of the match to close out the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference victory.

“Obviously they’ve seen more volleyball and they know the things they need to work on, and they’ve probably been able to do that a lot more and adjust accordingly,” said Flack. “With us, having only played seven games, it’s difficult for us just to know what we need to work on specifically.”

Faiivae finished with 12 kills to lead Western Iowa Tech, while Voelkel had 11 kills. Mia Ortiz tallied eight more and Madelyn Vis finished with seven. Sariahlee Matavao and V Liufau had two service aces each.

The Tigers were paced by Harvey with nine kills and Kaylee LaPlant with six. Hougland added three kills and a team-high two blocks, while Stull had three kills as well. Stratton and Olivia Maddux both had two kills.

Marshalltown returns to action on Saturday with a road trip to Quincy, Ill., for a 2 p.m. match against John Wood CC.

Notebook

MCC will also host High School and Youth Night on Wednesday, Oct. 15, as the Tigers take on Hawkeye Community College at 7 p.m. Students will get in for free to this contest.

The final match of the season will be a white-out on Thursday, Oct. 23, when MCC hosts Ellsworth Community College. Anyone who wears a white Marshalltown or MCC shirt will be entered to win a raffle prize.