Council Bluffs, IA – The No. 3 Indian Hills Volleyball team captured the 2022 Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) DI Volleyball regular season title after defeating Iowa Western Community College 3-1 on Wednesday night. The Warriors move to 3-0 in ICCAC play and 31-2 overall on the year.
The Warriors claim their first outright ICCAC regular season title since the 2004 season. Indian Hills and Iowa Western have previously claimed co-champion designation four times since 2005, most recently during the 2019 season. Indian Hills claimed the title by dropping Iowa Western by set scores of 14-25, 25-23, 25-23, and 25-23.
"We had a slow start but held our ground and battled," stated head coach Lyndsey Michel. "Erica (Calderon Rosario) and Kinga (Michalska) really put an exclamation on the end of the night for us. We had some key blocks at momentum changing times that helped us down the stretch."
The Warriors, who defeated Iowa Western 3-1 back on September 14 in Ottumwa, fell behind early as Iowa Western took a convincing 11-point victory in the opening set. The Warriors found their groove in the next frame and posted a .462 hitting percentage with just one hitting error to the match at one.
The Warriors held off a late surge in set three to go up two games two one before battling through a thrilling fourth set to take the final game and leave Reiver Arena with a win for the first since October 30, 2019.
The Warriors relied heavily on its offensive attack as Jenna Vallée (Pornichet, France/Lycee Aristide Briand), this week's ICCAC DI Volleyball Offensive Athlete of the Week led the way with 14 kills. Kinga Michalska (Szówsko, Poland/ZSSCHiO) continued to make an impact with 12 kills, the freshman's 18th double-digit kill performance of the regular season.
On the defensive front, this week's ICCAC DI Volleyball Defensive Athlete of the Week, Sasha Vidal posted 25 digs for the Warriors. Sophomore Jarolin de los Santos (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Luis Munoz Rivera) totaled eight blocks on the day while Erica Calderon Rosario (SantO Domingo, Dominican Republic/Salome Urena de Henriquez) added three stops at the net.
Sophomore Hennesys Lalane (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio Luis Munox Rivera) posted 43 assists and a pair of service aces in the win for the Warriors.
The Warriors now head to the Cardinal Classic in Park Hills, MO for four matches this weekend. Indian Hills will take on Barton Community College (KS) and St. Louis Community College (MO) on Friday before squaring off with Vincennes University (IN) and Mineral Area College (MO) on Saturday.
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