OTTUMWA —
Entering Tuesday, The Indian Hills volleyball team had beaten everyone on their schedule with one exception — sixth-ranked (DII) Iowa Central.
Today, the Warriors have beaten everyone on their schedule thus far.
IHCC extended its early-season winning streak by avenging their lone loss, sweeping the visiting Tritons in their home opener. The Warriors scored an impressive 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 win on Tuesday night in match that wasn’t perfect, but certainly was a lot of fun.
“The girls went out, played hard and stayed aggressive for most of the night,” Indian Hills head coach Lyndsey Lyon said. “Our hitting percentage was great, our serving goes up and down, but the girls stayed aggressive and that’s all you can ask.”
“We’re playing hard and we’re having fun right now. We’re playing together right now. That’s why we’re having so much success right now,” sophomore Ailime deFreitas added.
Despite a spotty serving night as a team, deFreitas was perfect with an 18-18 service night. The biggest difference in the match came in how well the Warriors received the serves of Iowa Central with pinpoint passing leading to just six hitting errors and 41 kills for the dominant front-row of the Warriors.
“We’re all trying so hard to help each other. We want to do well any time the ball is set up at the net to put the ball away,” freshman Carla Novaes said after hammering home nine kills on 15-18 hitting.
“When we pass the ball well, there’s no stopping us,” Lyon added.
Outside hitter Shelby Lauterbach led the Warriors’ attack with a perfect 19-19 hitting effort that included a match-best 11 kills. Indian Hills kept the attack coming at Iowa Central, who got the best of the Warriors in the season-opening Southeastern Tournament 11 days earlier.
IHCC set the tone early on, grabbing control of the opening game with a four-point run that helped the Warriors open a six-point lead on the way to a 25-20 win. The turning point of the night, however, came in the late stages of game two with Iowa Central on the verge of evening the match with a 22-18 lead.
The Warriors responded in a big way, scoring the final seven points to turn the deficit into a sudden 25-22 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. IHCC also rallied from an early three-point deficit in game three, pulling away late to close out the sweep of Iowa Central with a 25-19 win.
“They’ve got way more composure then I do. I get tense, but at the same time I’ve learned that our girls will fight back,” Lyon said. “They won’t just sit back and let somebody run over them. If they get behind, they fight back and finish things off.”
The win is the ninth in a row for Indian Hills following the loss to Iowa Central at Southeastern that got IHCC off to a 1-1 start to their season. The early-season success is nothing that surprises the first-year head coach of the Warriors.
“I knew we had a great group of girls coming into the season,” Lyon said. “I’m not surprised. I knew they’d be thirsty for revenge in this match. I had a good feeling about this team.”
“We’re just trying to help each other out. We’re having so much fun right now playing together,” deFreitas said after also leading IHCC with 37 assists and seven digs.
The Warriors (10-1) will again put their winning streak to the test this weekend. IHCC will face at least two more ranked opponents (DMACC and Parkland) in the two-day Kirkwood Tournament, which starts Friday in Cedar Rapids.
“Hopefully, we can keep playing well and maybe we can get ourselves into the rankings by next week,” Lyon said.
Indian Hills 25-25-25
Iowa Central 20-22-19
IHCC Statistics
Serving — Ailime deFreitas 18-18, Carla Novaes 13-16, Peyton Crosser 9-12, Kassidy Guiham 7-12, Cristaine Vosconcoles 8-8, Emily Eswonia 5-6, Shelby Lauterbach 1-1. Team 61-73. Aces — Guiham 2, Crosser, Novaes. Team — 4.
Hitting — Lauterbach 19-19, Novaes 15-18, Eswonia 13-15, Crosser 10-11, Vosconcoles 6-6, deFreitas 3-3, Arika Johnson 1-1. Team 67-73. Kills — Lauterbach 11, Novaes 9, Eswonia 7, Crosser 6, Vosconcoles 4, deFreitas 3, Johnson. Team — 41.
Setting — deFreitas 37, Crosser, Vosconcoles. Team — 39.
Blocks — Crosser 5, Novaes 4, Vosconcoles 3, deFreitas 2, Eswonia, Lauterbach. Team — 16.
Digs — deFreitas 7, Eswonia 6, Jessi Black 5, Novaes 5, Guiham 2, Crosser, Lauterbach, Vosconcoles. Team — 28.
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