OTTUMWA, IA – It was a fitting regular-season home finale for Indian Hills as they sent three individuals off in style as part of Sophomore Day celebrations with a straight sets victory over NIACC, 25-15, 25-18 and 25-8.
The win was the Warriors' eleventh consecutive victory and moved IHCC to 12-5 and 9-3 in ICCAC play. NIACC fell to 7-8.
Coach Lyndsey Michel's squad hasn't been pushed to a fifth set the entire winning streak and Sunday afternoon was no different as the Warriors, despite being pushed a bit in the second set, cruised to the 3-0 victory.
"What great leadership from our sophomores on their big day," Michel said. "What a great way for them to go out. I hope they can make it an even bigger exit here in a couple of weeks by making it to the national tournament."
Michel's reference to the postseason is a look-ahead to the Super Regional in which Indian Hills will be a host to, and one in which the Warriors will have a few more opportunities to take the floor at the Hellyer Center and ideally make it to back-to-back NJCAA National Tournaments.
But, first things first. NIACC had to be dealt with. And deal with, the Warriors did.
The opening set provided little drama as IHCC set the tone with a ten point victory.
Set two got interesting late as a service error pulled the visitors to within 18-17, and suddenly the 20-point fade away that has plagued the Warriors at times started to creep into the minds of those in attendance.
"I'm not going to lie. I was thinking it, too." Michel admitted. "The girls fought back and responded. We finally figured things out what their setter was going to do. She was unpredictable."
Learning to predict the unpredictable allowed the Warriors to step on the proverbial gas that their coach has been asking for and IHCC walked away with set two, 25-18, setting the stage for another sweep.
And sweep they did, as the Warriors wouldn't let the Trojans up off the mat with an empathic 25-8 exclamation point that poetically ended with honoree Cassia Lemos serving it out for the match ender.
In total, the three sophomore's final regular season match at Hellyer couldn't have been much more satisfying as Gabriela Cavalcante Oliveira led the team in kills, Lemos led in assists and Yahnke was a flawless 13-of-13 from the service line.
"Gabi has been the backbone of this program since she got here. She's the perfect teammate," Michel said. "Bailea didn't see much time her freshman year, but to her credit she didn't give up on me and has earned her time and has captained the team and takes care of everybody. Cassia has been the most dynamic setter that I've ever seen, and she just makes my job easy. She makes everyone around her better."
The Warriors will close out the regular season over the next week and a half with four road contests. The first of which will be a rematch with Jefferson Tuesday night in Hillsboro, Missouri.
"I've said before we almost always go four or five sets with Jefferson," Michel added. "I'll expect nothing less from them. They'll be scrappy and spunky and make plays out of nothing. We've continued to play better and better and clean things up for the most part, and we'll have to have that continue to get a win on Tuesday."