The Marshalltown Community College volleyball team honored its sophomores before Wednesday’s conference match with Hawkeye CC, but the Tigers couldn’t give their second-year players the kind of keepsake they were hoping for.

The visiting RedTails rode their moments of momentum into multiple points more often than Marshalltown, taming the Tigers 3-0 inside the Student Activity Center. Hawkeye claimed the 25-16, 25-22, 25-18 victory to keep MCC winless on its own court so far this season.

“It was Sophomore Night, so we always want to be able to have a good win for our sophomores,” said Tigers interim head coach Carlee Flack. “We were hopeful, but we do have another home match, so hopefully we can make that one have a different outcome for us next week.”

MCC (2-10, 1-9) dropped to 0-5 at home while Hawkeye (12-18, 4-5) improved to just 2-6 in true road games. The RedTails’ success came from stringing together series of points far more often than the host Tigers.

In a foreboding first set, Marshalltown was unable to score more than two points in a row in dropping the opener 25-16. The Tigers held brief leads at 2-0 and 5-4, but a 5-1 surge by Hawkeye gave it the lead for good. A five-point rally for the RedTails forced a timeout that only slowed the Tigers’ demise in Game 1.

“I thought we really came out again with little energy, which always amazes me with the home game in front of our home crowd, and on Sophomore Night,” Flack said. “That’s really what we lacked was the energy, and that just really plays into every point throughout the game.”

Marshalltown showed it could play with Hawkeye, but the Tigers couldn’t sustain it on the scoreboard. The Tigers got six kills in the first set from leading attacker Morghan Harvey, but the RedTails had a bit more balance in their varied attack.

Hawkeye’s outside hitters were accepting of the angle MCC chose to defend and scored with kills down the line or tips over the double block. The Tigers adjusted for Game 2, which helped stem the RedTails’ tide.

“That’s part of our constant adjustment,” Flack said. “They had a girl that can hammer the line, so you adjust and you take away the line and force them to go cross-court instead.”

The change in gameplan paid off for much of the second set, but just not enough of it. MCC used scoring surges of three and four points consecutively to take a 14-8 lead, but Hawkeye responded with nine of the next 11 points to take a 17-16 lead.

A back-and-forth battle ensued, but the RedTails scored three-straight to take a 21-18 advantage. It was 23-20 when MCC sophomore libero Callie Swanson stood firm and dug up a quick attack out of the middle by Hawkeye’s Liv Dralle, and her on-point pass turned into an eventual kill for Harvey to make it 23-21.

MCC sophomore outside hitter Kaylee LaPlant cut the deficit in half with a kill, forcing a Hawkeye timeout, but the Tigers’ ensuing serve found the net and foiled the comeback. The RedTails took the final two points to claim the second set, dropping MCC’s morale going into the third.

Hawkeye notched six of the first seven points, powered by three kills for Jenna Scharper, and the RedTails never led by less than three the rest of the way.

Trailing 15-6, Marshalltown managed to make a comeback thanks to efficient offense that yielded three kills for LaPlant, two more for Violet Hougland, and back-to-back blocks by fellow sophomore Addy Stull.

It was 17-14 Hawkeye before a string of six-straight points for the RedTails demoralized the Tigers beyond repair.

“We have a lot of girls that are very conscious about what they want to do instead of just going out and playing,” Flack said. “Just go out and play, have fun with your teammates because we’re nearing the end of our season. That’s where we were at the beginning of that set, but volleyball is a mental game so once you start overthinking it, that really affects your play.”

MCC scored four of the final six points, but Hawkeye only needed those two to finish off the third set for the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference sweep.

LaPlant led MCC with 11 kills and two service aces, while Harvey had 10 kills but none in the third set. Hougland finished with five kills, Stull had three and Imigyn Stratton had two.

Hawkeye was led by Emersyn Secora with 12 kills, Scharper with 11 and Ruby Patterson with eight. The RedTails got key contributions from their middle hitters as well, as Shannon Moorman had five kills and two blocks, and Dralle added two kills and three blocks.

MCC goes on the road for the final time on Tuesday for a contest against second-ranked Kirkwood, and the Tigers’ home finale is Thursday, Oct. 23, against Ellsworth.

“I would love to have a win on our home court, but at the same time, I just want to make sure that we are playing hard and just putting up a good fight regardless of what the outcome is,” Flack said.