Perfect Weekend for Warriors

Perfect Weekend for Warriors

Kansas City, Kansas -- No. 17 ranked Indian Hills got tested a couple of times, but still managed to roll through a weekend tournament hosted by Kansas City Kansas CC, winning all four matches to up their season record to 16-3.

IHCC began with a 3-0 win over Iowa Lakes and a 3-1 decision against Cowley (Kans.) College on Friday, and followed with a 3-1 victory over Johnson County and a 3-0 sweep of the host school Saturday.

"We had great floor direction from Yanjiao "Sally" Zhao against Iowa Lakes," said IHCC head coach Lyndsey Michel of her sophomore setter, who had 36 assists. "She kept the defense guessing with great hitter routes. It was fantastic defense by the whole team, and our hitters' efforts paid off as well as we had outstanding hitting percentages. All in all, a beautiful performance."

Camila Nicoletti led the IHCC attack with 22 kills and Bailey Darnall had 15. Antonija Ivanovic paced the Warriors with 10 digs.

Darnall came up big in the Cowley match, registering 26 kills, a .537 hitting percentage, eight service aces and 12 digs. "Bailey led the way for us with machine-gun-like tactics," coach Michel noted. "She connected in the front row, her serving was outstanding and she was a major force in the back row as well. She is really coming along as the season progresses." Michel said she was proud of the Warriors' defensive effort against an agressive attack and outside-based Cowley offense.

Zhao had 49 assists and Ivanovic collected 15 digs and Chen Shenglan 12 to go along with Darnall's dozen.

After dropping the first set to Johnson County, 25-22, IHCC took the next three sets. "We had a slow start to the morning, but came to life and rallied for the win," Michel stated. "We used aggressive serving and strategic attacking to maintain our lead throughout the match. We got great defense by Chen! It may not have always been pretty, but she cleaned the floor up and her effort wasn't unnoticed."

Darnall and Nicoletti led the way with 15 and 14 kills, respectively, and Zhao had 40 assists. Ivanovic was once again the leader in digs with 25.

Indian Hills concluded the tournament with a 3-0 win against Kansas City Kansas, getting 19 kills from Nicoletti and 19 digs from Ivanovic. Zhao had 42 more assists and upped her four-match total to 167.

IHCC returns to conference play with a home match against Marshalltown CC on Wednesday night.