JUCO volleyball: Sixth-ranked Warriors secure 10th win

Sep. 1—OTTUMWA — Josi Schachle might have been swinging a little harder on Wednesday night.

Schachle returned to the Indian Hills campus to rejoin the sixth-ranked Warrior volleyball team, making the most of what proved to be a brief escape on the court at the Hellyer Student Life center delivering a career-high 10 kills and 13 digs in a 25-13, 25-17, 25-22 sweep of Carl Sandburg College. Indian Hills improved to 10-1 overall on the season, giving several regular starters a much-needed rest before hitting the road for the next eight matches on the schedule.

While her teammates will be headed down Highway 34 to play this weekend at the Jimmy John's Tournament hosted by Southeastern, Schachle will be back home with her family in Wasilla, Alaska. Schachle had just returned for the first week of classes at IHCC after making the long journey home once following the passing of her grandfather this past weekend.

"The home games are always fun whether you're playing or not just because of the extra energy in the gym," Schachle said. "It was nice to mix it up with a bunch of different players out there. I definitely hit the ball a little harder. It was great to be out there with all of my teammates for a little while before I head back home."

Freshman Maggie Paiva added a career-high nine kills in just 12 attempts on the night for a .583 hitting percentage. Emme Wilson made her biggest impact of the season after posting a career-high 17 assists in the win.

"Maggie got in there, got warmed up and really started jumping high," IHCC head volleyball coach Lyndsey Michel said. "She can be pretty feisty. I think she can do some good things for us.

"I think everybody contributed in a very solid way. We saw some good things out of everybody."

Michel, however, wasn't completely pleased with the effort against the Chargers, who fell to 5-7 on the season. After battling and beating many of the top teams in the country, IHCC completed a non-conference sweep despite 15 hitting errors and 15 serving errors, going 26-41 as a team with just four aces.

"Hopefully we can get some of those kinks out this weekend. We're going to see teams later in the season that are going to make us pay for those type of mistakes," Michel said. "You can't just go through the motions. We have to show up and play our game every single time."

The Warriors were able to avoid any real danger of letting their mistakes cost the a win on Wednesday. After four early ties and a pair of lead changes, a big kill at the net from Schachle ignited a run midway through the opening game as Indian Hills forced a Charger timeout with an 18-11 lead.

Schachle posted four kills in the first set to lead the way for the Warriors. Trailing early on to Carl Sandburg in the second game, it was Schachle's number that was again called upon as the motivated sophomore delivered multiple points to put Indian Hills back on top, adding four more kills and five digs in the set as the Warriors ran away after trailing early by three to open a two-game lead with an eight-point win in the second frame.

"I think you could put anyone off our bench out there and we'd still be one of the best teams in the country," Schachle said. "I think we should be the No. 1 team in the country. We'll take No. 6 for now."

Aside from one early tie, Indian Hills led throughout the clinching third game. Paiva's career-night came to life in the third set as the freshman posted seven kills before Vitoria Dias Silva ended a late surge by the Chargers, who erased six potential match points to cut a seven-point lead down to 24-22.

"We've got to be able to play with anybody we put out there on the court," Michel said. "We know that at any given time on any given day, things could change. It's important to keep everyone involved and take advantage of opportunities to do so."

While Indian Hills will play eight straight matches away from home, the Warriors will be able to sleep in their own beds this weekend back on the Ottumwa campus as IHCC will be making the trip both Friday and Saturday just over an hour east to play four matches inside the Loren Walker Arena in West Burlington. Sixth-ranked Indian Hills will take on Spoon River and Black Hawk College on Friday before finishing the weekend on Saturday against Highland and Sauk Valley Community College.

"Hopefully, we can try a few different line-ups and put together a couple different groups that we can win a few sets with," Michel said.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.