NORFOLK – Spots are limited in postseaosn play, as only four teams make the Iowa Collegiate College Athletic Conference tournament, meaning every conference matchup is a big one no matter who you are playing.

That was the case last night, as Northeast Community College welcomed Iowa Lakes and sent the Lakers packing with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-20 sweep at the Cox Activities Center.

Despite the sweep, the game did not come easy, as Iowa Lakes came with some challenges that Northeast hasn’t seen too much this year.

“I thought we were a little slow tonight,” head coach Amanda Schultze said. “Just a half step slow in serve receive and hitting. As for blocking, I felt we were a bit early as some of those sets on the other side of the net werer a little high. The tempo of their game was a little slower than what we played all last weekend, so it was a different game, and you have to adjust.”

But when Northeast found their tempo, they were almost tough to stop.

After Iowa Lakes tied it at 12 midway through the first set, a hitting error followed by a kill from Alli Brown jumpstarted an 8-2 run for the Hawks and take a 20-14 lead.

Iowa Lakes would try to come back, getting a couple points back on a kill and an ace, but another Brown kill started a 5-2 run to end set one in favor of the Hawks 25-15.

Teams once again traded points early in set two, playing to a 6-6 tie before Baylee Settje kicked off a 9-4 run that saw Northeast race out to a 16-10 lead.

Iowa Lakes fought back, as a 4-1 run themselves cut the Northeast lead down to three at 17-14 before a block from Daveigh Munter-McAfee dropped for a point to end the Lakers run.

That Munter-McAfee block set up a strong finish in set two for Northeast, as it kicked off a 8-1 run that was aided by three Laker hitting errors as the Hawks closed out set two 25-15.

Big runs continued for Norhteast in set three, as the Hawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Iowa Lakes settled in and pulled to within a point at 8-7. Out of the Hawks eight points to open set three, five of them came off the swing of Brown, who finished with 12 kills on the night.

“She stepped it up tonight and hit a much higher ball,” Schultze said. “We’re working with her on just reaching. She hits a lower ball – low and hard. We’ve been working on reaching high and finishing high sometimes.”

That one point lead would not last long as the Hawks used another run midway through the set, this one being a 10-5 affair to turn a one-point lead into a six-point lead of 18-12.

Trailing by six late, Iowa Lakes tried one last gasp for a comeback and used an 8-3 run themselves to pull within one at 21-20. However, that would be the closest they would get as an ace by Grace Robidoux and three Laker hitting errors ended the threat and secured the 25-20 Hawk win.

“That was definitely a game we had to get, especially coming off a tough one and two weekend,” Brown said afterwards. “I think it’s just good for this team to build confidence and some momentum going into the rest of the season and playing the rest of the conference.”

Outside of Brown, the Hawks showed a great deal of balance, as Rowan O’Keefe finsiehd with seven kills along with five blocks on the night. Baylee Settje slammed down four kills herself while Robidoux and Mckenna Jones each tallied three kills.

Jones, Munter-McAfee and Katie Borg also came through with a pair of aces while Jones, Munter-McAfee adn Robidoux all had two blocks in the contest.

“I feel like everyone’s grown a lot so far this seaosn,” O’Keefe said afterwards. “The first couple weeks was kind of just testing it out as we were playing in a higher level than we had been. But everyone’s gotten better. We’ve got the rhythm and grove of the speed of the game and have gotten quicker with everything in general.”

With 18 games into the season complete, the season still far from over, and Brown says this game can be a catalyist to the rest of the year with several tough teams still ahead.

“This is a good win to get under our belt, and hopefully we can win on Friday and keep building on this to win more of those harder games,” she said.