OTTUMWA, IA – After dropping the opening set, Indian Hills took three straight in capturing its seventh consecutive victory Friday night at the Hellyer Center, downing visiting Jefferson College in four sets, 26-28, 26-24, 25-15 and 25-18.
The problem of not finishing sets after holding advantages at the 20-point mark that had plagued the squad early in the season reared its ugly head in the opening set as the Warriors led 20-15, but couldn't put it away. Jefferson battled back to even at 22-22, and IHCC staved off set point twice before finally succumbing, 28-26.
"I hate that," admitted IHCC Head Coach Lyndsey Michel. "We have to push through that 20 mark. I felt like at the end of set one we ended up chasing them and playing side out volleyball. We have to string two or three together there consistently. We have to put games away."
Fortunately for the Warriors, they did just that in the remaining sets.
The second stanza ended up as another nail biter as IHCC established no more than a four-point lead on two occasions, only to see the Vikings claw back in it down the stretch. The Warriors led 18-14, but didn't have a repeat of the first game as the hosts put it away in bonus volleyball, 26-24.
"We've learned not to get comfortable with this team ever," said Michel. "Even during the third and fourth set, I didn't feel like getting comfortable."
In truth, the third and fourth sets were won by fairly comfortable margins as IHCC took ten and seven point victories to seal the win.
"We've still been talking about pushing through the 20-point mark," Michel added. "A lot of teams do it, but how do we finish? How do we take our foot off the brake and just stomp on the gas and get through there? It's something we'll continue to work on."
Gabriela Cavalcante Oliveria led the Warriors with 17 kills, 10 digs and was 20-of-21 from the service stripe. Precious Daley and Jarolin de los Santos paced a balanced attack at the net, adding 15 and 13 kills, respectively. Santos collected a pair of blocks on the night.
"Jarolin is tall and long, and we've been working on getting her lined up with the block and she's been doing much better with that," Michel said.
Cassia Lemos dished out 55 assists and added 13 digs. Jenna Vallee had an outstanding floor game going a perfect 16-for-16 serving with an ace while adding nine kills and 13 digs.
"Jenna's been hard on herself. Too hard sometimes," Michel said. "We had to have a conversation with her yesterday about it. When she brings the energy, she brings the block, and she can rip the ball right through there, and she did a great job of that tonight."
Anja Vranic led the Warriors with 22 digs while Bailea Yahnke contributed 21-of-22 serves. Jentry Schafer added six kills for IHCC.
The win moved Indian Hills to 8-5 overall while Jefferson fell to 6-8. The two teams will see each other again in ten days when the Warriors travel to Hillsboro, Missouri to face the Vikings on their home floor.
"They're scrappy. Their kids made plays out of nothing," Michel said of Jefferson. "Our kids are doing a much better job of controlling their attitude and effort, and they'll have to continue to do that because it's not going to get any easier from here on out."
The Warriors travel to Iowa Falls Sunday to battle Ellsworth (4-10) before wrapping up the home portion of this season's schedule with three home matches next week coming on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday against Kirkwood, Mineral Area and NIACC, respectively. IHCC will then end the regular season with four straight road contests before hitting postseason action.