WARRIORS ADVANCE TO DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP
November 09, 2024
Belleville, IL – No. 15 Indian Hills Volleyball advanced in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Volleyball Midwest B District Tournament with a 3-1 win over No. 17 Mineral Area College (MO) on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors advance to Sunday’s District championship.
Indian Hills avenged an early season loss to the Cardinals with Saturday’s four-set win, dropping Mineral Area 25-15, 23-25, 25-19, and 26-24. The Warriors move on to the NJCAA District Championship for the seventh consecutive season with a third consecutive trip to the national tournament on the line. Indian Hills will square off against NJCAA Region 24 regular season runner-up Southwestern Illinois College who scored a pair of victories on Saturday to advance to the finals.
Sophomore Sara Van Gisteren (Leuth, Netherlands/Young Talent Academy ROC Nijmegen) powered the Warriors with another dominant performance, racking up 24 kills on 47 attempts. Van Gisteren hammered home eight kills in the final frame to put the match out of reach.
Freshman Joanna Pawlik (Lublin, Poland/Nauczycieli Tajnego Nauczania) tallied 13 kills on 31 attempts to aid in the attack for the Warriors while freshman Piper Nelson (Atkins, IA/Benton) tacked on 10 kills. Nelson collected her third double-double of the year with a career-high 18 digs.
Sophomore Ana Carolina Westerich (Blumenau, Brazil /Colégio Energia) and freshman Ana Luiza Caminha Matos (Betim, Brazil/Augusto de Lima) combined for 52 assists in the win.
On the defensive front, sophomore Daniela De Los Santos Castillo (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Colegio los Clavelines) tallied six blocks on the day, including two solo stops. Sabrina Nogueira da Silva (São Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Campos Salles) led the Warriors with 22 digs while Asialin Powell (Des Moines, IA/Roosevelt) added 17 for the Warriors.
Van Gisteren’s performance pushed the All-American into rare company as the sophomore moved into second place on the Indian Hills career leaderboard with 1,037 over the past two seasons. Van Gisteren’s 584 kills in 2024, second-most in the nation, now rank third all-time for a single-season at Indian Hills.
The Warriors will look to punch their ticket to the national tournament and claim the District championship for the third consecutive year and sixth time in program history.
Action from Southwestern Illinois College gets underway at 12:00 PM on Sunday afternoon. GoHillsTV, the official streaming platform of Indian Hills Community College will provide a free, live broadcast of the match.
