PALATINE, Ill. - After two years of high school, Erinn Hellweg (Wauconda, Ill., Wauconda) was at a crossroads. She had played two seasons of varsity volleyball and two seasons of varsity basketball. With her height (6'1”), Hellweg had a reasonable case of having a future in both sports.
Ultimately, Hellweg decided to give up basketball to play club volleyball all year round and focus on improving her prospects of playing in college.
That dedication has paid off as Hellweg has emerged as the top attacker on the Harper College volleyball team. In last week's Kishwaukee Invitational at Rock Valley College, the fifth-ranked Hawks took on some of the top teams in Div. I, II and III. Hellweg led the team in kills in five of their seven matches and finished with 61 total, 20 more than the team's second leading hitter, Veronica Dabrowski (Des Plaines, Ill., Rolling Meadows). Hellweg's performance has earned her the honor of being named Harper College's ninth Athlete of the Week.
“Erinn is a very versatile hitter,” said head coach Bob Vilsoet. “She can play left side, right side, receives serves deceivingly well, she blocks well and has very clean hands.”
Hellweg excelled as a junior and senior at Wauconda, making the All-Area team and in her senior year, she led the Bulldogs to a sectional championship. Clearly, Hellweg had the ability to play collegiately and with volleyball being her favorite sport since the sixth grade, it was a no-brainer. Her high school coach, Bob Taterka, recommended that she get in touch with Vilsoet, who Taterka had coached against as the coach of College of Lake County. So Hellweg contacted Vilsoet, began attending club practices at Sky High and a match was made.
The transition was smooth as Hellweg and the Hawks started the season red-hot, despite losing three of their four All-Conference selections from last season's 34-13 team. Harper started the season 17-1, which is the best 18-match start in Vilsoet's 11 seasons at Harper. The start was highlighted by a 15-match winning streak.
“At the beginning of the year, were phenomenal,” Hellweg said. “For some reason, we kind of hit a rough patch. It's about teamwork and working together. You need to connect on the court and if you don't gel, it's really hard to have a good team.”
While Harper (35-14, 10-2 N4C) has hit some minor bumps in the road since the torrid start, three courtesy of #3 Rock Valley College, the team finished in a three-way tie for first along with Rock Valley and #6 Madison College. Hellweg averages a team-high 2.93 kills per set, which is the 27th best in the country. Dabrowski is not far behind at 2.92 kills per set.
That success on attack didn't necessarily come quite as easily at first to Hellweg, who has been able to make some adjustments to her game, thanks to Vilsoet.
“At the beginning of the season, Bob talked to me about my hitting and I really had to think about it,” Hellweg said. “He told me to not focus as much on hitting it hard but rather on spots and locations. So I did, beginning with tips and roll shots and gradually hitting the ball harder. That helped me out because now I can hit locations instead of focusing of hitting it so hard. Location is how you get points instead of hitting it as hard as you can. Bob teaches us how to hit off the block, hitting it off their fingers and hitting at setters.”
But it's been more than just putting down kills. Coming into this season Vilsoet pulled Hellweg aside and told her that it's not her powerful hits that are the best part of her game, but her passing and all-around ability.
“I think what makes her a special player is her high volleyball IQ,” Vilsoet. “She is always hustling in her mind, so to speak, during games. She is constantly thinking ahead and visualizing what might happen, and then does what she needs to do to improve our odds of winning that point. Recently, she has come into her own as an outside hitter. She is very reliable and mixes up her attacks in terms of speed and location, in addition to some booming cannon shots.”
In a sport filled with sideouts and attack errors, Hellweg is the type of player that never lets one play affect her or throw her off her game.
“I am really competitive and hate losing,” Hellweg said. “I do get down on myself when I make a mistake, but I don't let it affect my game, because I know that I can't take back that point. You made a mistake, you have to get over it, next point. Don't make the same mistake. I do have fun playing.”
Now the Hawks play in the Region IV semifinals against two of the six best teams in the country. Harper plays Madison at noon on Saturday and if they win, they will get a chance to avenge three losses to Rock Valley in the championship.
“Our regionals are harder than nationals,” Hellweg said. “If we can make it past Madison and Rock Valley, we can definitely win nationals.”
