JUCO volleyball: IHCC spikers win 19th straight
Sep. 29—MARSHALLTOWN — The second-ranked Indian Hills volleyball team extended its current winning streak to 19 straight matches on Wednesday, sweeping Marshalltown on the road earning a 25-21, 25-12, 25-11 Iowa Community College Athletic Conference regular-season victory.
Indian Hills wrapped up play at the Blue Dragon Classic on Saturday with a pair of sweeps on Saturday. The Warriors had little trouble with Cloud County, upending the Thunderbirds in straight sets (25-12, 25-18, 25-21) before battling Butler to a 27-25, 25-20, 25-16 win.
"Our defense came to life and our offense couldn't be stopped," IHCC head volleyball coach Lyndsey Michel said. "We struggled with a couple of our servers, but Maggie (Paiva) came in and served six or seven in a row. That changed everything for us and got our fire started."
The Warriors rolled past Cloud County early and often. Kinga Michalska was the driving force with 11 kills in the win.
Freshman Sasha Vidal posted 19 digs while Larissa Barreiros Scatamburlo added 12. The Warriors posted 11 service aces in the win, including five from Hennesys Lalane and a career-high four from Scatamburlo.
Butler pushed Indian Hills to the limit in the opening set of the final match on Saturday. The Grizzlies held a 25-24 lead, but the Warriors rattled off three consecutive points to pull out the victory.
Indian Hills jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the second set against the Grizzlies and never looked back to pick up its 14th of 15 total sweeps this year. Jenna Vallée posted a season-high 15 kills while recording a .448 hitting percentage in 29 attempts on Saturday, totaling 47 kills through the weekend while committing just eight hitting errors.
"Jenna had an incredible weekend for us," Michel said. "Her play, especially on the final day, both offensively and defensively, really set us a part."
Lalane added five more service aces and 33 assists in the win for the Warriors. Erica Calderon Rosario tallied eight total blocks to lead the defensive attack. Maggie Paiva tied a career-high with four service aces.
The second-ranked Warriors (26-1, 2-0 ICCAC) now compete in the Iowa-Missouri Challenge this weekend in Hillsboro, Missouri. Indian Hills will face Missouri State-West Plains on Friday at 3 p.m.
