PALATINE, Ill. – The #9 Harper College volleyball team sent their sophomores out in style on Tuesday night, claiming a sweep (25-16, 25-18, 25-19) of Moraine Valley on Sophomore Night.

Lauren LaMasse (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Hoffman Estates) led Harper (34-12, 10-2 N4C) with 16 kills while Lauren Knipp (Des Plaines, Ill., Maine West) added 10 kills.  LaMasse, Andraia Leja (Crystal Lake, Ill., Prairie Ridge) and Becky DePaepe (West Dundee, Ill., Jacobs) all registered aces for the Hawks.  Lindsey Pickle (Arlington Heights, Ill., Prospect) and Alyssa Cazzato (Bartlett, Ill., Bartlett) had 3 blocks apiece.  DePaepe and Leja both reached double figures in digs.  Cazzato led the Harper attack to the tune of 37 assists.

The team finished in second place in the conference, and will be the second seed in the Region IV tournament this weekend.  The semifinals and finals will be on Saturday and Harper will play at noon.  The championship match will immediately follow.

The Hawks honored 11 sophomores prior to the match, the most ever from a team in head coach Bob Vilsoet's tenure.  Harper paid tribute to Cazzato, DePaepe, Liz Dotson (Palatine, Ill., Fremd), Bolawa Gbadebo (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Thornwood/Hoffman Estates) (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Thornwood/Hoffman Estates), Sierra Gilmore (Fayetteville, NC, Cape Fear), Marni Gonnering (Schaumburg, Ill., Schaumburg), Knipp, LaMasse, Pickle, Jacqulyn Rosinski (Arlington Heights, Ill., Rolling Meadows) and Samantha Rosinski (Arlington Heights, Ill., Rolling Meadows) for their contributions to the program.
 
“I can't believe how time flies,” Vilsoet said.  “It is especially sad for me because this will be the fourth year of coaching both Pickle and DePaepe and the third year of coaching Gonnering at Sky High before they got to Harper.  I will miss everyone tremendously.”