Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Macy Brown of Fort Dodge records a dig against Marshalltown as Meah McCaleb (2) watches on Tuesday night. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

It didn’t come easy, but the Fort Dodge volleyball team kept their perfect Iowa Alliance Conference North division record intact here Tuesday night.

After going up 2-0 on Marshalltown inside the Dodger gym, Fort Dodge was pushed to the fifth and deciding set.

Scores were 25-7, 25-18, 16-25, 24-26 and 15-11.

“These girls are competitive and I think that after the way the first set went, they let their energy down,” FDSH head coach Lexi Astor said. “That’s not the way we want to play. We’ve got to keep that energy high and remain consistent throughout.

“I was very proud of them for figuring things out and getting the win. At the end of the day, that’s what is most important.”

Mackenzie McIlrath had 11 kills with seven digs, Meah McCaleb recorded 10 kills with three aces and Cadence Touney had six kills, seven blocks and two aces.

Lucy Porter chipped in three aces, Olivia Totten had four kills and Macy Brown 10 digs. Totten also recorded 25 assists.

“We’ve got a lot of girls that are competitive on and off the court,” Astor said. “That really helps drive them to want to succeed and build this program into what we want. I love that about them all.”

Fort Dodge (12-4 overall, 5-0 in the league) started out on a 15-3 run and never looked back in the first set, doing the same in the second by building a 19-11 advantage. In the third, though, the Bobcats (4-12, 3-1) answered, running off seven of the first eight points before taking the set.

Marshalltown made it 2-2 by pulling out the final two points of the fourth after the Dodgers had answered with a 6-1 rally to take it from 23-18 to 24-24.

“They started putting some rallies together and made better passes,” Astor said. “We didn’t adjust as well as I had hoped. We had some of the same problems we had this past weekend, so we definitely still have areas we need to improve on.”

In the fifth, the Tigers went up 8-4 before Fort Dodge answered with five consecutive points including a pair of kills by McCaleb. After tying it up at 9-all, Totten had back-to-back kills with McIlrath recording the final two points of the match to end it.

Next action for the Dodgers will be Saturday when they compete at the Boone Invitational. Joining FDSH will be the host Toreadors, Ames, Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, Forest City, Grand View Christian, No. 14 (Class 4A) Knoxville and Treynor.

Fort Dodge JV1 fell to Marshalltown, 18-21, 21-12, 15-10, while FD JV2 picked up a 21-14, 21-18 victory. The Dodger freshman A lost, 25-15, 25-21, and the B won, 25-16, 25-12.