Warriors Are Perfect in Illinois

Springfield, Ill. -- Indian Hills ran their early-season winning streak to seven as the Warriors swept all four matches in a weekend tournament hosted by Lincoln Land CC.

The toughest of the four wins came in the first match on Saturday against Lakeland CC, ranked 19th in NJCAA Division I in the preseason poll.  IHCC dropped the first two sets in that match, then roared back to win the next three sets, 25-22, 25-13 and 15-13.  Carla Novaes had 15 kills, four blocks, eight digs and three ace serves to lead the IHCC comeback.  Peyton Crosser had a team-high five blocks and contributed nine kills.

The next two matches Saturday were both 3-0 finals, against Lincoln Land and Rend Lake.  The closest of the six sets was the first one against Lincoln Land, which the Warriors won 25-23.  Emily Eswonia led IHCC with 10 kills and a dozen digs.  Jessi Black had 11 digs and Crosser and Novaes had four blocks each.

Arika Johnson had 10 kills in the Rend Lake match, which ended the Warriors' play in the tourney.  Seanie Popp led with four blocks and Black and Eswonia had 10 and nine digs, respectively.  Kaylee Scholten saw quite a bit of action at setter and had 29 assists.

In the lone match on Friday, Indian Hills polished off Joliet JC in three sets.  Ailimee deFreitas had 36 assists and a perfect day serving on 13 serves which included five aces.  The trio of Johnson, Novaes and Eswonia each had eight kills and Eswonia added nine digs. 

The Warriors take an 8-1 record into their home opener on Tuesday night against the only team to have defeated them so far this season -- Iowa Central CC.  IHCC will look to avenge the loss to the Tritons in a 7:00 start at the Tom Arnold Net Center.