Ottumwa, IA – No. 18 Indian Hills Volleyball secured its fifth consecutive win with a 3-0 sweep of Northeast Community College on Thursday afternoon. The Warriors improve to 22-9 overall on the year.

The Warriors closed out their home portion of the 2024 schedule with a straight-set win over the Hawks at the Hellyer Center. Indian Hills took the match by set scores of 25-….. The Warriors capped an unbeaten year at home with a 6-0 mark and have now won 28 of its last 30 matches on their home floor.

Indian Hills was led by sophomore All-American Sara Van Gisteren (Leuth, Netherlands/Young Talent Academy ROC Nijmegen) who tallied 23 kills on the day to reach 1,000 kills for her career as a Warrior. Van Gisteren continued an unprecedented stretch of play by hitting .459 in the win to go along with four service aces.

Ana Carolina Westerich (Blumenau, Brazil/Colégio Energia) tallied 43 assists to surpass the 2,500 assist total for her career at Indian Hills. Jorja Hoffmann (Whiterock, British Columbia/Elgin Park) provided a spark for the Warriors with five total blocks and five kills for the Warriors. Piper Nelson (Atkins, IA/Benton) added eight kills and 12 digs in the win. Sabrina Nogueira Da Silva (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Campos Salles) led the defense with 16 digs while Asialin Powell (Des Moines, IA/Roosevelt) added 15. Daniela De Los Santos Castillo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio los Clavelines) added an all-around impressive performance for the Warriors with nine kills, zero attack errors, three service aces, and six block assists.

The Warrior jumped all over the Hawks from the jump, leading by as many as 12 in the opening set to pull away for a 1-0 win. Northeast bounced back in set two to hold a lead midway through the frame, but the Warrior offense powered past the Hawks to steal the second set. Both sides battled back-and-forth in set three before Northeast pulled away down the stretch, holding off a late push from the Warriors to pick up its first set win of the night. Indian Hills ran away in set four, building a comfortable lead early on to improve to 7-0 all-time vs. the Hawks.

Thursday proved to be the final home match for six sophomores - Sabrina Nogueira Da Silva, Ana Carolina Westerich, Iva Mrkaic, Jorja Hoffmann, Daniela De Los Santos Castillo, and Sara Van Gisteren.

Indian Hills is on the road for its final match of the regular season. The Warriors will travel to Des Moines Area Community College at 7:00 PM on October 28 before opening up postseason play November 8-10 in Illinois. 

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