Comets break through with first victory

The Western Iowa Tech volleyball team earned its first-ever win in the last of four matches at the Southeast Community College tournament over the weekend.

The Comets swept Labette Community College (25-21, 25-16, 25-20) on Saturday afternoon to finish 1-3 in Beatrice, Nebraska, the site of WIT's first road volleyball games.

"We already had a successful weekend up to that point, but it was really nice for the team to earn the result that had eluded us," head coach Dante Frattini said. "This is a team of winners, I think they just needed to prove it to themselves."

Jagoda Szczepaniak led the Comets with 10 kills while Maya Augustine and Kealohilani DeNisi had six each in the sweep. Mariana Hernandez Florez scored 15 assists and Shantel Denetsosie added 10.

Augustine was the only Comet to record 10 digs, while Szczepaniak and libero Eriza Tamez each had nine.

"Everyone chipped in for that win," Frattini said. "We had eight players with at least one kill, and nine with at least two digs. We were without two players all weekend and had a couple others that were limited due to injury and still everyone stepped up and gave each other their best. It was really encouraging to see."

WIT's breakthrough win came after a narrow tournament-opening loss on Friday and two late-set disappointments on Saturday.

The Comets lost in five (23-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 10-15) to Kansas City Kansas Community College on Friday afternoon. Augustine had her highest offensive output of the young season with 12 kills against the Blue Devils. 

Cooper Champoux scored eight kills, DeNisi had seven, and Sajai Jackson had six. Szczepaniak led with 13 digs and five aces, and setters Hernandez Florez (18) and Denetsosie (17) commanded the offense.

The final day of the tournament started with a three-set loss to Coffeyville Community College, though after a lackluster first set the Comets found themselves within striking distance in sets two and three. 

"The reality of being on a brand new team with 14 freshmen is there will be some growing pains," Frattini said. "We've seen that through the first five matches of the season. We are learning how to win, and unfortuantely part of that is dealing with the pain of losses.

"We know at our core we are better than the results, but we also know there's no shortcuts. We just have to keep working on what we can control and trust that those wins will come. That's what happened in our last match, and it made for a great bus ride home."

The Comets host the Northeast Hawks at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Robert E. Dunker Center. Admission is free.