Volleyball nets three All-Region selections

Three Western Iowa Tech volleyball players received All-Region honors, the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference announced Thursday.

Sophomores Jagoda Szczepaniak, Kaira Willits and Karen Arredondo Bedoya were named to the second, third and honorable mention teams, respectively.

"I am very proud of Jagoda, Kaira, and Karen for being named to the All-Region teams," head coach Laurel Durst said. "All three of them are very deserving and I am happy their hard work all season is being recognized." 

The Comets finished their second season as a program 19-15, an eight-win improvement over their inaugural year efforts. They also qualified for the Region 11 Tournament behind strong sophomore performances at the key positions of outside hitter, setter and libero.

"(It) shows we are building and making strides in a positive direction already in year two," Durst said. "It makes me really excited for the future of WIT Volleyball and I hope the players coming in behind them use this as motivation for the seasons to come."

Szczepaniak earned second-team All-Region status by being one of the ICCAC's most consistent and effective attackers. The six-rotation outside from Poland was second in the ICCAC with 3.33 kills per set, and just one of three athletes to average more than three kills/set in the conference. Her .239 hitting percentage ranked best among the top eight players in kills/set.

Szczepaniak finished her Comets career as the all-time kills leader with 659. She twice earned ICCAC Athlete of the Week honors this year, first for the week of September 9-15 and then for September 23-29.

Willits is a repeat All-Region selection after a sophomore season that saw her write her name in the record books with 1741 career assists. The 5-8 setter from Castro Valley, California, finished fourth in the ICCAC with 8.34 assists/set and fifth with 1001 total assists. While Willits was tasked with running the WIT offense, she proved herself an indispensible all-around player. Her 3.24 digs per set were best among all setters and her .38 service aces/set ranked fourth.

Arredondo Bedoya, a newcomer to the ICCAC and Western Iowa Tech, quickly proved herself after earning the libero role in August. The former outside hitter ranked third in the ICCAC with 5.19 digs per set and fourth with 623 total digs. She also averaged .28 aces/set. 

Arredondo Bedoya, from Colombia, was named an ICCAC Athlete of the Week for the week of September 30-October 6.

For the full list of All-Region players, visit the ICCAC website.