By Sam Parsons

The Oskaloosa Indians hit the road last night to face the #7 Indianola Indians and left empty handed as Indianola got the 3-0 sweep.

The game began as a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair. Midway through the opening set, the score was 15-15 and neither team had possessed a lead of greater than 2 points. This, however, was when Indianola found its groove, as they rattled off 6 points in a row and 8 out of the next 9 and were able to coast from there to a 25-19 victory to take a 1-0 lead.

The set itself was not the only loss suffered by Oskaloosa early in the game, as toward the end of the opener, junior middle hitter Hannah Quang injured her right leg in a blocking attempt and was sidelined for the rest of the night. Sophomore Lexi Prathers filled in for the injured Quang in an Osky lineup that was already missing another middle hitter, junior Hayley Van Arkel, who has been nursing a calf injury.

In the second set, Indianola picked up from where they left off in the opener by jumping out to a 6-1 lead and never letting Osky back into it, staving off any comeback efforts. The closest it got was a 12-8 score early on, but Indianola cruised to a 25-14 set victory to forge ahead 2-0.

The third and final set saw Osky battle to the finish, as they came out firing to take a 6-0 lead before surrendering a 7 point run to Indianola; from there, the set was a dogfight as neither team established a firm grip on it. Indianola led 22-21 late in the set before scoring 3 of the last 4 points to win 25-22 and secure the sweep 3-0.

Oskaloosa (11-8) will host #3 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Monday before welcoming Pella Christian for another edition of Little Hawkeye Conference play on Tuesday. #7 Indianola (20-4) travels to Newton on Tuesday.