PALATINE, Ill. – The Harper College volleyball team scored 20 straight points over the course of the first and second games and cruised to a 3-0 (25-4, 25-17, 25-10) victory over DuPage on Tuesday night.

The Hawks started out the first game strongly as kills from Sarah House (Crystal Lake, Ill., Crystal Lake South) and Stephanie Igielski (Streamwood, Ill., St. Edwards) staked the team to a 4-1 lead.  After DuPage drew to within 8-4, Harper rattled off 17 straight points to win the game 25-4.  Becky DePaepe (West Dundee, Ill., Jacobs) served throughout the run, mixing in short and powerful serves.

"That was some outstanding serving from Becky," said head coach Bob Vilsoet said.  "She has a very nice jump-float serve.  She is doing everything right.  Every one of the locations I asked for and she hit it."

Harper (26-9, 8-2 N4C) scored the first 3 points of the second game, the first 2 courtesy of kills from Lauren Knipp (Des Plaines, Ill., Maine West), which meant they had scored 20 consecutive points.  The Hawks sprinted to a 9-2 lead and were never seriously challenged.  A kill from Liz Dotson (Palatine, Ill., Fremd) ended the game at 25-17.

In the third game, Harper trailed briefly 4-3 but they rebounded thanks to kills from DePaepe and Bolawa Gbadebo (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Thornwood/Hoffman Estates) (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Thornwood/Hoffman Estates).  The Chaparals closed to within 8-6 but the Hawks won 11 straight points, highlighted by kills from Knipp and Gbadebo.  A block from Sierra Gilmore (Fayetteville, NC, Cape Fear) put Harper up 21-9 before a kill from Lindsey Pickle (Arlington Heights, Ill., Prospect), a Lauren LaMasse (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Hoffman Estates) block, a DePaepe ace and a shared block from LaMasse and Gilmore close out the game and the match.

DePaepe finished 27-27 serving with 4 aces.  LaMasse had 12 kills while Knipp and Dotson added 6 apiece.  Andraia Leja (Crystal Lake, Ill., Prairie Ridge) led a balanced defensive effort with 12 digs and Alyssa Cazzato (Bartlett, Ill., Bartlett) had 20 assists.

"We played really well," Vilsoet said.  "It was a solid all-around effort."

Harper takes a break from conference play until next Tuesday when they host Milwaukee Area Technical College.  In the meantime, the Hawks will head to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend for six matches.  The team will square off with Owens and Carl Sandberg on Thursday, Jackson and Muskegan on Friday and Black Hawk and Nassau on Saturday.