Ottumwa -- An Indian Hills volleyball program that was 37-5 last fall and won 69 matches over the past two seasons is sending five of its players on to four-year schools to continue their educations and careers.
Signing National Letters of Intent include Yanjiao Zhao with St. John's University in New York, Iva Popovic with Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, Antonija Ivanovic with Siena College in Albany, New York, Bailey Zoss with Southern Arkansas University and Talita Oliveira with University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
All five of the signees were on the Academic All-Region teams this year: Popovic (Novi Sad, Serbia) on the 1st team and Ivanovic (Pancevo, Serbia), Zoss (Des Moines, Iowa), Oliveira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Zhao (Baotou, Inner Mongolia) on the 2nd team. Popovic received a Superior Academic Achievement Award as a freshman and is in line to at least repeat that honor when the NJCAA releases those awards this spring.
Zhao was an all-region performer and 2nd team All-American after her sophomore campaign. Her 1,544 assists as a soph were the 4th-highest single-season total in program history. She ended her IHCC career with 2,996 assists, 2nd-most for a Warrior volleyball player.
Ivanovic led Indian Hills in digs in 2016 with 500.