Ottumwa, IA – No. 2 Indian Hills Volleyball defeated visiting Iowa Western 3-1 at the Hellyer Center on Wednesday to win its 12th match in a row. The Warriors improve to 19-1 overall on the year.
The Warriors took the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) opener over the two-time defending national champion Reivers in four sets in front of a packed house at the Hellyer Center. The Warriors won the first two sets before finishing off the Reivers in four. Indian Hills won by set scores of 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, and 25-15.
The win is just the second over the Reivers in the team's last 10 matchups. The Warriors have now claimed 36 of the last 42 sets during the team's 12-match win streak.
Freshman Larissa Barreiros Scatamburlo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colégio Liceu Franco-Brasileiro) led the offensive attack for the Warriors with 12 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Six different individuals produced at least four kills in the win, including eight from sophomore Jenna Vallée (Pornichet, France/Lycee Aristide Briand) and seven apiece from Kinga Michalska (Szówsko, Poland/ZSSCHiO) and Erica Calderon Rosario (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henriquez).
Sophomore Hennesys Lalane (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Luis Munox Rivera), this week's ICCAC Offensive Player of the Week, totaled 37 assists and a team-high six service aces. The ICCAC Defensive Player of the Week, Jarolin de los Santos (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Luis Munoz Rivera) totaled a career-high seven solo blocks to go along with seven block assists in the victory. Sasha Vidal (Asunscion, Paraguay/Trinity School) added a team-high 20 digs in the victory.
The two sides came out firing to open the night in a highly contested matchup. Neither side led by more than two early on until the Warriors took a 17-14 edge. Indian Hills built its lead to 23-19 on a Lalane ace and the Warriors finished off the opening set on an impressive kill from Scatamburlo.
de los Santos provided two sweeping kills in the early portion of set two to set the tone. Indian Hills built its lead to 10-5 to force an Iowa Western timeout. The Warriors continued to pull away and finished off the Reivers down the stretch to go up 2-0.
Another back-and-forth battle ensued in set three. Indian Hills jumped ahead 21-19, but the Reivers stole six of the final eight points to force a fourth set.
Despite the loss in the third set, the Warriors built off of its momentum to take a commanding 7-0 lead to open the fourth set on a pair of service aces from Lalane. Iowa Western clawed back to within two, 17-15, but de los Santos' final solo block of the net came on match point to lift the Warriors to the win.
Indian Hills continued its stronghold as the nation's top blocking team with 26 more stops on Wednesday night. Indian Hills leads the NJCAA with 243 total blocks, led by de los Santos' nation-leading 91 total blocks and 34 solo stops.
The Warriors will have a quick turnaround with a 3:00 PM home date with Northeast Community College (NE) on Thursday afternoon at the Hellyer Center. Fans can catch all of the action on GoHillsTV.
Looking for Indian Hills Athletics information straight to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletter and mobile alerts to receive news, scores, highlights, and more in real-time: INDIAN HILLS ATHLETICS NEWSLETTER
