Photo courtesy of Iowa Central Athletics: Iowa Central's Meah McCaleb bumps the ball against St. Johns River State in an NJCAA national volleyball tournament opener on Wednesday in Cedar Rapids.

CEDAR RAPIDS — The seventh-ranked Iowa Central volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss at the NJCAA Div. II National Tournament here Wednesday afternoon against No. 15 St. Johns River State.

Scores were 20-25, 18-25, 25-22, 27-25 and 15-12.

The Vikings advance to take on either No. 3 Heartland or 16th-ranked Sauk Valley in the quarterfinals Thursday from the Alliant Energy Powerhouse.

The Tritons (30-8 overall) now will take on either Monroe, Heartland or Sauk Valley on Thursday in the consolation round at 3:30 p.m.

Talya Sampson, the reigning ICCAC player of the year, had 24 kills with 13 digs to lead Iowa Central. Shirley Monaghan added 20 kills and five digs, Anabel Seaman dished out 45 assists with three aces, and former Fort Dodge Senior High standout Meah McCaleb had 21 digs with six assists and two aces.

Addi Hindt, a Southeast Valley grad, had two kills and four block assists for the Tritons, who finished the match with 57 kills, 54 assists, 17 aces and 16 total blocks.

Devon Rodewald tallied five of those aces, as did Meya Wingert.

For St. Johns River State, Lovina Teel had 25 kills, Nadia Ewton finished with 20 and Paola Aviles Morales added 10. Jessica Horn recorded 51 assists and 12 digs.

In the pivotal fourth set, Iowa Central led 9-5 early and held a slim 15-13 edge before the Vikings got going. The two teams exchanged points before the Tritons went up by three at both 22-19 and 23-20.

St. Johns River State, though, scored seven of the final nine points of the set to force a decisive fifth.

This is the sixth consecutive time Iowa Central has qualified for nationals, as they have won 227 matches during this current run, twice reaching the national semifinals.