Head coach Lyndsey Michel enters the 2024 campaign following back-to-back trips to the NJCAA National Tournament. Michel is set to begin her 13th season at the helm of the Warrior program.

For the second consecutive year, Michel and the Warriors ascended to the national tournament, placing ninth overall after wnning both the NJCAA Region 11 and NJCAA Midwest District Championships. The Warriors claimed back-to-back national tournament bids for just the second time in program history while posting a 31-11 overall record. Despite a narrow five-set defeat to No. 4 seed Salt Lake Community College in the opening round of the national tournament, the Warriors rattled off three consecutive wins, dropping just one set along the way to take the ninth-place match. The Warriors knocked off seven nationally ranked opponents and put together a season-long winning streak of 10 matches.

Michel guided a pair of All-Americans to national prominence throughout the year as Kinga Michalska and Sara Van Gisteren were recognized by both the NJCAA and AVCA. Michalska, a first-team All-American, cemented herself in the Indian Hills record books while being named the ICCAC Player of the Year as well as a College Sports Communicatior Academic All-American, the first in school history. Van Gisteren put together one of the most dominant freshman seasons in school history with 453 kills, the 12th most in the nation during the 2023 season.

In a year that saw the Warriors make a run to the Final Four of the NJCAA National Tournament, Michel became the all-time winningest coach in school history during the 2022 season. In 11 seasons with the Warriors, Michel owns a 340-124 (.733) record, an average of 28.3 wins per season. Michel has won 30 games or more on seven separate occasions at Indian Hills, including 42 victories in 2022, the program's second-most wins in a season in school history. The Warriors captured the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Midwest District Championship in 2022 as Michel brought the Warriors back to the national tournament for the second time in four years. The Warriors also claimed the outright ICCAC Regular Season Championship in 2022, the program's first outright championship since 2004. The Warriors previously earned a shared regular season title three times - 2015, 2016, and 2019.

Michel has coached nine NJCAA All-Americans and a total of 30 NJCAA All-Region XI selections. 30 individual student-athletes have also earned prestigious NJCAA All-Academic selections during Michel's tenure in Ottumwa.

2022 re-wrote the record books for the Indian Hills Volleyball program as Michel guided the Warriors to a 42 wins, the program's highest national ranking in school history, two NJCAA All-Americans, and six individual and team school records. After starting the season ranked No. 19 in the preseason polls, the Warriors climbed to No. 2 in the nation in five separate NJCAA polls and found themselves in the national rankings every week of the year. The Warriors posted an undefeated record in conference play and captured the 2022 NJCAA Midwest District with a pair of straight-set sweeps. Michel led the Warriors to two victories at the national tournament and a fourth-place showing, the program's second-best finish at the national tournament.

The Warriors saw Hennesys Lalane and Jarolin de los Santos set numerous single season and career records on their way to NJCAA First-Team All-American honors. The duo was a part of four NJCAA Region 11 selections, joining Jenna Vallee and Erica Calderon Rosario. In the classroom, the Warriors were named an NJCAA Academic Team of the Year as five individuals earned NJCAA All-Academic honors and 11 individuals earned Academic All-Region recognition.

The Fall 2021 season was highlighted by Precious Daley's All-American effort on the court and academic success in the classroom. Under Michel, Daley earned NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American honors and was named to the NJCAA All-Academic Third-Team as the Warriors posted a 20-12 record throughout the year. The Warriors knocked off three ranked opponents during the season and reached the NJCAA Midwest District Championship, falling in a five-set thriller to Missouri State-West Plains for the second consecutive year.

The Spring 2021 team was led by Daley and sophomore Gabriella Calvacante who were both named to the NJCAA Region XI First-Team. The Warriors earned 14 victories in the COVID-adjusted season and reached the NJCAA Midwest District Championship after a victory over Kaskaskia College in the semifinal round. The Warriors fell to West Plains in five sets, including a 17-15 final set defeat.

Michel took the Warrior program to new heights in 2019 with a 36-5 overall record, a NJCAA Division I Volleyball Midwest District B Championship, and a berth at the NJCAA National Championship where the Warriors went 1-2 with a 3-1 victory over Hill College. For her efforts, Michel was selected as the NJCAA Region XI Division I Volleyball Coach of the Year

The Warriors were anchored by a record-setting performance from Mariana Rodrigues, the 2019 NJCAA Region XI Division I Volleyball Player of the Year. Rodrigues set a program record with 1,090 kills on the year after totaling 553 for the season. Rodrigues was selected to the NJCAA Division I Volleyball All-America First-Team, the second repeat All-America selection under Michel after Rodrigues earned second-team honors as a freshman in 2018. Amanda Toyota and Cassia Lemos joined Rodrigues on the NJCAA Region XI Division I Volleyball First-Team.

The Warriors had an 18-16 record in 2018. Mariana Rodrigues became just the fourth All-American coached by Michel when she was named to the NJCAA Division I Volleyball All-America Second-Team following a season in which she was among the national leaders in kills and kills per set. Rodrigues and Cecelia Campos were chosen for the all-region team.  Nine players on the 2018 roster earned a spot on the academic all-region squad and the Warriors were a NJCAA academic team of the year with their cumulative grade point average of 3.10.  Iva Vranic was a NJCAA first-team all-academic performer and Amanda Toyota made the second team. 

In 2017 the Warriors finished 29-15. After not being included in the NJCAA ratings to begin the season, they entered the national Division I poll midway through the campaign and were rated sixth for two weeks and seventh for two. They won all four matches in an early-season tournament at Barton College (KS) and knocked off a handful of ranked teams during the year. Jessica DaSilva and Camila Nicoletti were named all-region and nine players earned recognition on the conference all-academic squad. 

Michel's 2016 squad was 37-5 and won 24 matches in a row in one stretch. The Warriors were ranked sixthin the preseason poll and stayed in the ratings all season long, winding up 8th at the end of the campaign. 

In 2015 Michel notched her 100th career victory as head coach of the Warriors in a season highlighed by a win against Iowa Western, the first victory against the region rivals in ten years. The 2015 squad earned the highest national ranking in school history and they remained at No. 3 for consecutive weeks.

Indian Hills went 32-7 in 2014 for the most wins in seven years.  IHCC got off to a fast start, winning their first 10 matches and jumping into the NJCAA national poll at No. 14.  They were nationally-ranked the rest of the season.  

With a young team, the Warriors battled to a 19-24 record in 2013, but did have two all-region first-team selections in Peyton Crosser and Kassidy Guihan.

In Michel's first season at the helm in 2012 the Warriors finished 30-11, losing in the championship match of the super regionals. A 9-1 record to begin the season propelled Indian Hills into the national ratings at No. 18.   

A native of Atalissa, IA, and a graduate of Wilton High School, Michel was a student-athlete at Ellsworth where she played for teams that had the best records in school history, back-to-back winning seasons that included a 26-16 record and a regional final appearance as a sophomore. She was named Ellsworth’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2006.

Michel served as a member of the coaching staff at the Iowa High Performance volleyball camp where she had the opportunity to work alongside some of the state's elite college coaches.  She also assisted three-time Olympian Jeff Nygaard in working with middle hitters. The IHCC head coach was an assistant coach for the USA High Performance championships in Tulsa, Okla., with Iowa's GSEL 2014 Black team.

After earning her associate's degree from Ellsworth, Michel moved on to Grand View University in Des Moines where she received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business.  At Grand View, she was twice an honorable mention all-conference volleyball player in the Midwest Collegiate Conference and earned academic honors as well.  She has a master's degree from Southwest Minnesota State University. 

Michel and her husband, Miraldo have three children, Mason, Mily and Myer.

Michel by the Numbers

Michel's Fast Facts 

• 3x NJCAA Region 11 Coach of the Year - 2023, 2022, 2019
• 3 NJCAA National Tournaments - 2023, 2022, 2019
• 3 NJCAA Midwest District Championships - 2023, 2022, 2019
• 8 NJCAA All-Americans
• 3 NJCAA Region 11 Players of the Year - Kinga Michalska, Hennesys Lalane, Marianna Rodrigues
• 29 NJCAA All-Region 11 selections
• 25 NJCAA All-Academic selections
• Indian Hills All-Time Winningest Coach