By Marissa VanWingen

The first two sets were close throughout for Ellsworth Community College before the undefeated and third ranked Kirkwood Community College put the hammer down in a 25-23, 25-23, 25-5 ICCAC sweep.

The visiting Panthers (5-7, 1-3) took an early lead in the first and second sets. They were on top 3-0 on an Elsa Raga block to open the match. A Kaci Johnson hit evened the score at 5-5 and then the Eagles took the lead and never looked back. A Kirkwood (12-0, 4-0) error gave the Panthers the ball and after a long volley and strong defense by both sides, the Eagles got the point on an ECC hitting error. The hosts then scored four of the next five points and went on a run to score nine of the final 10 points of the game – winning it on an ace serve.

The second game was similar with the Panthers jumping out to an early advantage (4-0) before Kirkwood knotted the match at 5-5. This time there would be eight even scores between the two. The Eagles pulled away for the 14-11 lead, but the visitors came storming back and knotted the score at 16-all on a Raga tip. Trailing 22-18, ECC got the ball back on a Madi Hughston hit and then ace. Back-to-back Kirkwood hitting errors squared the score at 23-23. A blocking error and then a hit that went into the net ended the set with the hosts on top.

That fueled the Eagles offensive engine who scored the first eight points of the third before Adriana Tiedt’s kill put the Panthers on the board. It was short lived as hitting miscues sank ECC. Kirkwood scored eight of the last nine points to take the game by a commanding 25-5 final.

The Eagles dominated the defensive front lines with 21 total blocks.

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Kirkwood 3, Ellsworth 0
Thursday at Cedar Rapids

ECC: 13| 23| 5
KCC: 25| 25| 25

ECC Stats Unavailable