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There was no way to sugar-coat it, no way to suppress it or even to say it.

Tuesday's season-ending loss for the Marshalltown Community College volleyball team was a heartbreaker. And how disappointingly fitting for the Tigers that it came against Ellsworth.

High times have come few and far between this fall for the MCC netters, but Ellsworth was one of those rare opponents the Tigers had repeated success against. Only in a season like this could Tuesday's scene play out the way it did.

The visiting Panthers, who finished last in the ICCAC's North Division, rallied from behind to defeat Marshalltown in five games in the NJCAA Region XI-A play-in match Tuesday night at the Student Activity Center, 22-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-21, 15-11.

The Tigers' season ends at 10-37 overall, with two of those victories having come against this same Ellsworth squad. The Panthers (10-22) will face top-seeded Iowa Lakes (23-20) in the regional semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge.

"I guess it could have been worse, we could have gone out in three (games)," said MCC head coach Jackie Holland. "That would have been worse, but it took five.

"It's hard to see so much of what we wanted to do come together tonight and not seeing good things happen for us."

The Tigers scored the first six points of the night and held on to take the first set, but Ellsworth found its emotion and aggression in the second set and ran away with it.

Marshalltown again made a big move early to break a 7-all tie in the third game before the Panthers pushed through a late deficit to take game four.

The deciding fifth game was defined by momentous rallies, most of which worked out in Ellsworth's favor. After the two teams switched sides of the court midway through, the Panthers dug up a seemingly unsalvagable kill attempt by MCC sophomore Casey Weatherman and eventually won the point for a 9-5 lead. A four-point surge gave Ellsworth a 13-7 edge and the host Tigers were unable to overcome it.

Occasional lapses in play offset what at times looked like Marshalltown's best volleyball in a while. Weatherman finished with a match-high 16 kills but watched from the bench as she waited to sub back in while her last career game came to an end.

Weatherman, one of six Tiger sophomores, also led MCC with three blocks in the season-ending loss.

"It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them," said Holland. "It was a tough, tough season all the way around from the very first day of practice. I think the girls battled well, but it would have been nice to see more things go our way instead of going against us."

After the opening game, Ellsworth turned up the heat with a solid block and in fact ended the Tigers' season that way, turning back sophomore Vitoria Oliveira's attack with its 11th block of the match.

"They picked up more stuff than I've seen them get and when we wanted to get the ball to a go-to hitter, they did a good job when they needed to," Holland said of Ellsworth's defense.

Haleigh Brockman led the Panthers with six total blocks, while Blaire Wilson and Julie Rabe added four apiece. Anna Zwiefel had 12 kills to pace Ellsworth, Brockman added 11 kills while Nicole Broders and Jordie Vanderholt had seven apiece.

MCC sophomore Dani Walter chipped in nine kills behind Weatherman's 16, while Oliveira had seven and freshman Brandi Wagoner added six.

Libero player Courtney Moore, a freshman, led the Tigers with 24 digs while Walter added 14, Oliveira 12 and sophomore Paige Bolton 11.

Sophomore Stephani Benzing finished with 25 set assists and Oliveira had 21, while sophomore Kiara Brooks contributed one of MCC's nine blocks.