WEST BURLINGTON, IA – Indian Hills found its way back into the win column Thursday night with a straight sets ICCAC road victory over Southeastern, 25-18, 25-19 and 25-19 at Loren Walker Arena.
On the surface, it may have looked like an easy shutout victory for the Warriors, who were coming off of their first loss in almost a month; however, it was anything but easy.
IHCC employed volleyball's version of a rope-a-dope strategy by falling behind in every set, only to go on a late run to seize the momentum and take the set.
"It feels like we got out of there by the skin of our teeth," admitted Warrior Head Coach Lyndsey Michel. "Every team continues to compete with Indian Hills with the flame of 1,000 fires!"
Michel's squad trailed 13-11 in the opening set, but recaptured the lead on a Jarolin de los Santos kill to make it 14-13, Warriors. After the Blackhawks battled back to knot it up at 16, IHCC went on a four-point surge to take control. Libero Anja Vranic would deliver the dagger with consecutive aces to close out the opener, 25-18.
"Anja had serving runs for us tonight that helped hold them off," Michel added.
Set two was more of the same as the Warriors trailed 15-12 before going on a five-point run that included kills from Jenna Vallee, Precious Daley, de los Santos and Cassia Lemos before Vallee bookended the run with an ace to make it 17-15, IHCC. The visitors, who were missing the services of kills leader Gabriela Cavalcante Oliveira, wouldn't surrender the lead as Vranic closed out the hosts again in the second stanza with one of her four aces on the night.
"It was hard to find our rhythm tonight without Gabi in the lineup," Michel said. "Jenna had a good night, and so did Precious. I'm glad we got the job done."
The Blackhawks looked intent on avoiding a sweep in the third set as they held leads of 12-5, 16-10 and 17-14, but just like they did all evening, IHCC would catch their second wind when it mattered most. A nine-point outburst broke SCC's back and the victory was secured for the Warriors.
IHCC (13-6 overall, 9-3 ICCAC) was led at the net by Vallee's 14 kills. Daley added nine and de los Santos had six. Andressa Borges was the primary beneficiary of Cavalcante Oliveira's absence as she had her most extensive action since returning from an ankle injury two weeks ago. Borges had seven kills for the Warriors.
Lemos contributed 39 assists and 15 digs, and was a perfect 16-of-16 from the service stripe, including a pair of aces. Vranic added 19 digs to go along with her four aces. Bailea Yahnke and Zara McCauley chipped in 10 and 9 digs, respectively.
Southeastern fell to 7-12 overall and 7-12 in the league.
Indian Hills continues its current four-game road trip to close out the regular season with two more trips. The first is Sunday at Council Bluffs against No. 5-rated Iowa Western. The Reivers swept the Warriors in their previous matchup on February 2 at the Hellyer Center in the second match of the season. IHCC wraps up regular season play on Tuesday at Park Hills, Missouri against Mineral Area.