Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Iowa Central players react after scoring a point late in their match against Northeast (Neb.) on Wednesday inside Hodges Fieldhouse. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

It took the Iowa Central volleyball team one game to find their comfortt zone inside Hodges Fieldhouse here on Wednesday.

Four ICCAC squads are ranked in the national polls, and after Wednesday’s action, the No. 14 Tritons (16-6 overall, 5-0 in the ICCAC) now own victories over two of them.

Iowa Central bounced back after a tough 25-23 loss in set one against No. 16 Northeast (Neb.) (11-7, 4-1). The Tritons answered with three straight victories, 25-18, 25-23 and 25-18, to secure sole possession of the conference’s Div. II lead.

“Our conference is really tough and deep this year,” said Iowa Central head coach Sara Horn, who picked up her 148th Triton victory. “Everyone is better than last season. It’s very competitive.

“Team A beats team B and team C beats team D, so everyone is (vulnerable) on a given night. It’s nice to be on the upside of that now with four conference matches left.”

The Tritons already own a five-set victory over 15th-rated Hawkeye. The good news for is the remaining contests against No. 8 Kirkwood (Oct. 10) and No. 18 DMACC (Oct. 24) are both inside Hodges Fieldhouse. The Eagles have one league loss and the Bears have two.

“Having a one-game lead takes a little bit of pressure off of us,” Horn said. “Hopefully it fires us up. It’s nice to have all four (ranked conference foes) at home, because our home crowd really gets us going.”

The Tritons jumped out to early leads in each game after falling behind 1-0 in the match, something they weren’t able to do in the opening set.

“We knew exactly who they were. They are good defensively and they force you to make mistakes,” Horn said. “After that first set, we knew we needed to get going and play with a sense of urgency.

“These girls are experienced. We were getting better at staying away from their momentum and eliminating their runs.”

Iowa Central had streaks of its own to put set two (20-15) and set four (16-6) out of reach. After the Tritons tied the match one set a piece, the teams went toe-to-toe in a pivotal third game.

There were 11 lead changes and seven ties after both teams exchanged five-point runs.

Libby Zorn led the Tritons with 15 kills and had a solid night picking apart the Hawkeye defense.

“Libby is a very smart player,” Horn said. “She has the experience and knows when to pound the ball and when to hit a spot.

“I thought Hannah Murray had a good effort as well, as she was switching to the sixth-row spot.”

Murray and Asarar Gony registered 12 kills each. Abby Lohrmann recorded 43 assists for the Tritons.

Kryssie Okinaka led Iowa Central with 30 digs, while Amaya Finley contributed 26. Kayla Faldet tallied seven of the Tritons’ blocks.

The Tritons travel to Arkansas City, Kan. on Friday for a tournament. They’ll open with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, and will play two matches on Friday and two on Saturday.