JUCO volleyball: Warriors fall in district finals

OTTUMWA — Jovi Evans was pretty confident she was going get to the ball.

Until she tripped on her first step and started falling. Suddenly, a different thought entered the mind of the Indian Hills freshman.

“Nuts. I’m knew I was really going to have reach out for it,” Evans said.

Evans reached and dove until she flung the volleyball back into play late in the fourth set of Thursday’s NJCAA Midwest B District Tournament semifinal against Vincennes, keeping the pivotal 33rd point of the game alive. One set later, Elsa Cuevas was hammering home the ball that Evans had kept in the air on the other side of the court, giving IHCC the lead for the good in what proved to be the final set of the match.

Evans added one more key dig on the very next point, again setting up Cuevas for a kill. More just two points, the plays provided Indian Hills the energy needed to race away from the Trailblazers in their postseason opener winning in four sets (25-16, 16-25, 25-16, 25-20) to move within one win of secure a district title and a spot in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament.

“It was kind of a huge relief to get through that match,” Indian Hills head volleyball coach Lyndsey Michel said. “We did it without our starting setter. Jovi stepped up in a really big way and we got it accomplished.”

Even with a hobbled Silva returning the line-up on Friday, the Warriors could not overcome Jefferson College in the district championship match. The Vikings rode another tenacious defensive effort to a third win this season over Indian Hills with 23 combined solo or assisted blocks highlighting a 25-22, 25-21, 25-18 win securing the program’s first national tournament trip in four years.

Evans, who recently returned from a foot injury of her own, had to step in to play setter at the start of Thursday’s match after Ana Silva rolled her ankle during warm-ups. Evans immediately set up Ki Schachle for a kill on the very first point of the match.

“I’m just glad that we have Jovi on our team. There’s nothing on the team that she can’t do,” Michel said. “The girls handled it all pretty well.”

After finishing with 21 assists on Thursday, Evans returned to the front line for the Warriors on Friday resulting in nine kills for the former Mid-Prairie standout against Jefferson. Ayana Ito led Indian Hills with 24 kills in the district tournament, including 14 on Thursday as part of a double-double effort with 12 digs in the four-set win over Vincennes.

“We definitely knew that Jefferson’s middle blockers were going to be big. We knew we had to go around them. We knew we had to mix up our shots,” Evans said. “We did a better job against them than we have in other matches. It’s just a shame to have Ana go down right before (Thursday’s) match. Everything was out of rhythm.”

Indian Hills finishes with a record of 20-12, missing out on the national tournament for the first time since 2022. Jefferson will take a 19-7 record into the national tournament, including a nine-match winning streak.