IHCC Volleyball Signs Four

OTTUMWA --- Indian Hills Community College volleyball coach Lyndsey Lyon has announced the addition of four players to her 2013 recruiting class.  Lyon says Katie Soddy (Milton, Wis.), Marlee Lindstrom (Maquoketa, Ia.), Morgan Gerbsch (Alvin, Ill.) and Mackenzie Felt (Adel, Ia.) have all signed letters-of-intent with IHCC.

Soddy is a setter who led her Milton HS team to conference and regional titles.  She was the team captain as a junior and senior and was named first team all-conference both years after being selected honorable mention all-conference as a sophomore.  She had a serving percentage of over 90 percent every year during her high school career.

Lindstrom, another setter, was first team all-conference in the WAMAC Conference as a senior, second team as a junior and honorable mention as a sophomore.  Her high school team qualified for the state tourney her junior year. 

Gerbsch was voted the top defensive player in her conference as a junior and senior.  She set a single-season record for digs her junior season and finished her high school career second in that statistic.  She was honorable mention all-conference as a junior and made the all-county team as a senior.

Felt was first in her conference and third in the entire state in aces her senior year at Adel-DeSoto-Minburn and received her team’s top defensive player award for three straight years.  She was honorable mention all-conference as a senior.

All four players have extensive club volleyball experience as well.

Season Comes to a Close in Super Regionals

Centralia, Ill. -- The Indian Hills volleyball team notched two victories against Kaskaskia CC, but suffered two losses to Iowa Western CC in the District D Super Regional Tournament over the weekend and the second loss to Iowa Western brought an end to the Warriors' season.

Iowa Western defeated IHCC in three sets in the final match of the tourney, winning 25-12, 25-10 and 26-24, a loss that left the Warriors with a 30-11 season record.  Peyton Crosser, Arika Johnson and Emily Eswonia each had six kills in the match and Jessi Black had 18 digs.

The Warriors started the postseason with a come-from-behind win against Kaskaskia on Friday.  After losing two of the first three sets, Indian Hills rallied to win the next two sets, 25-13 and 15-8.  IHCC got 16 kills from both Cristiane Vosconsoles and Carla Novaes and Eswonia and Black combined for 48 digs.

The win moved the Warriors into a Saturday match with Iowa Western and the Reivers swept IHCC by scores of 25-12, 25-12and 25-17.  Eswonia had a team-best six kills for the Warriors.

The loss to IWCC put the Warriors in an elimination match with Kaskaskia and with four players each having at least seven kills Indian Hills won with ease, 25-19, 25-13 and 25-18. 

"I definitely was not ready to see this season come to an end," IHCC coach Lyndsey Lyon said after the Sunday match.  "We have a great group of sophomores to replace next year."

Indian Hills had seven sophs who ended their careers at IHCC with the loss on Sunday.

Regular Season Ends with 3 Wins

Hillsboro, MO -- Indian Hills needed a tough final weekend of the regular season to get ready for next week's Super Regionals and that's what they got at Jefferson College on Friday and Saturday.

The Warriors won three of four matches and very nearly made it a clean sweep.  They won the first two sets against No. 12 Missouri State-West Plains on Friday and, even after dropping the next two sets, they led the Grizzlies in the fifth set.  But they couldn't hold the lead and eventually lost the deciding set, 15-12. 

The day had opened with the Warriors taking down No. 17 Hutchinson (KS) CC in straight sets, winning 25-20, 25-21 and 25-17.

Saturday, IHCC defeated Seminole State (OK), 3-1, and then ended the tourney with a sweep of Jefferson College.

Indian Hills got contributions from a number of different individuals over the four matches.  Peyton Crosser had a team-high 13 kills and three aces against Hutchinson and Jessi Black had 18 digs.  Crosser and Cristiane Vosconcoles had a dozen kills against MS-WP and Black recorded 30 digs.  Alimie deFreitas piled up 91 assists in the two Friday matches.

Emily Eswonia led IHCC with 11 kills against Seminole State and 15 against Jefferson.  Crosser had eight blocks in those two matches and Black had 37 more digs. 

Indian Hills ends the regular season with a 28-9 record. 

Indian Hills Takes Four Matches in Illinois

Rockford, Ill. -- Indian Hills had to go to five sets twice and four sets once, but still managed to come away with four wins in a two-day tournament at Rock Valley College.

The Warriors won five-set matches against South Suburban on Thursday and Kishwaukee on Friday.  They knocked off Harper College in four on Friday and swept Carl Sandburg in their other match in the tourney.

Carla Novaes and Peyton Crosser led the Warriors' attack against Harper with kills each and Cristiane Vosconsoles had nine kills and three blocks.

Novaes had a team-high 11 kills against Kishwaukee and Shelby Lauterbach had 10.  Jessi Black had 20 digs against Harper and 21 in the match with Kishwaukee.

The Warriors are now 24-7 and will go to Kirkwood on Tuesday.

Iowa Central Knocks Off Warriors

Fort Dodge, IA -- For the second time this year, the Iowa Central volleyball team defeated Indian Hills, this time in straight sets.  The Tritons won 25-22, 25-17 and 25-17.

Indian Hills was playing its first match in a week and saw its season record fall to 21-7 with the loss.  IHCC had dropped a 3-1 match to Iowa Central in the first tournament of the season back in August.

Carla Novaes had 10 kills and Peyton Crosser eight for the Warriors who also got three blocks from Crosser and 25 digs from Jessi Black.

The Warriors play in the Kishwaukee Invitational this Thursday and Friday.

Warriors Drop Hard-Fought 3-Setter

Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills Warriors put a scare into fourth-ranked Iowa Western on Tuesday night, but couldn't come away with a victory, losing in three sets to the Reivers.

The Warriors missed a big chance for some early momentum in the match when they had two set points in the opening set.  But Iowa Western staved off those IHCC opportunities and won the set, 27-25.

With the second set tied at 4-4, the Reivers got a side-out and then Emily Jones served six straight points to give IWCC an 11-4 lead.  The Warriors answered with a five-point run, but wound up losing the set, 25-19.

Indian Hills then jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the third set, only to see Jones' serving again turn things around.  She served six consecutive points and Iowa Western went on to close out the match, winning 25-22.

Although disappointed with the results, IHCC coach Lyndsey Lyon couldn't fault her team's effort, saying, "All in all, our girls played great volleyball.  We were ready for (Iowa Western).  We just fell a little bit short."

Indian Hills was impressive in a lot of areas in the match, especially in keeping rallies alive.  They had 64 digs on the night, Jessi Black leading the way with 17, one more than teammate Emily Eswonia.

IHCC also minimized their service errors, going 65-of-67 on serves.  Peyton Crosser's eight kills led the Warriors and she and Cris Vosconsoles each had three blocks.

With a 21-6 record, Indian Hills has over a week off before they play in the Kishwaukee Invitational Oct. 18-19 in Rockford, Ill.

IHCC Finishes Strong in Missouri Tourney

Union, MO -- After suffering a 3-0 loss to Illinois Central in their first match, Indian Hills recovered to win three in a row at the East Central Tournament over the weekend.

The Warriors defeated Mineral Area in the second match on Friday and East Central in the first match Saturday -- both by 3-1 scores -- before sweeping Jefferson College in their last test of the weekend.

Cris Vosconsoles and Emily Eswonia had 22 kills between them in the Mineral Area match; Jessi Black had 19 digs and Eswonia 16; and Shelby Lauterbach had four ace serves.

Against East Central, Eswonia had a team-high 15 kills and Lauterbach added 13.

Peyton Crosser amassed 10 kills and Lauterbach nine in the final match while Black had 13 digs, after she had 27 earlier in the day.

Indian Hills is 21-5 for the season and will host Iowa Central -- ranked fourth in the latest NJCAA Division I poll -- on Tuesday night in the final home match of the season.