Ottumwa -- A big home crowd couldn't get the 13th-ranked Indian Hills Warriors over the hump in their showdown with No. 1 ranked Iowa Western Wednesday night at the Net Center. The visiting Reivers pulled out a tense second set and then finished off the Warriors with ease in a runaway third set in sweeping IHCC.

The loss is only the second of the season for Indian Hills, both of the defeats at the hands of IWCC. The scores were 25-20, 25-23 and 25-9.

The Warriors started slowly, falling behind 8-1 in the opening set. But they gradually were able to find some holes in the Reiver's defense and clawed their way back into the set. They cut the deficit to three points, before losing by five.

The second set was outstanding: there were eight lead changes and a dozen ties. Indian Hills, trailing 22-20, scored three straight points to take a 23-22 lead and appeared poised to even the match at a set apiece. Kassidy Sullivan's kill allowed Iowa Western to tie it, and the Warriors then committed two consecutive hitting errors as the Reivers matched IHCC's quick 3-0 run with one of their own to go up 2-0 in the match.

The loss in set two seemed to take the life out of the Warriors as Iowa Western used an 11-0 run to blow out the home team in the third set. It was the most lopsided loss of the season for Indian Hills, which had dropped only 10 sets all year coming into the match.

Indian Hills honored the four sophomores on this year's squad -- Katie Soddy, Mirela Vasconcelos, Mackenzie Felt and Morgan Gerbsch -- before the match as this was the final regular-season home action for IHCC. Their final 10 matches are on the road, starting with a trip to Marshalltown next Tuesday.