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PALATINE, Ill. – The #4 Harper College volleyball team dropped their first two matches of the Harper Invite against a Div. I school and Div. II school but rebounded to win their final two matches of the weekend on Saturday.

Harper (19-4, 5-1 N4C) began the tournament with a 3-2 loss (25-27, 25-16, 25-11, 21-25, 13-15) to John Logan College on Friday.  Sarah House (Crystal Lake, Ill., Crystal Lake South) and Veronica Dabrowski (Des Plaines, Ill., Rolling Meadows) led the Hawks with ten kills apiece while Clara Moravec (Lake in the Hills, Ill., Jacobs) chipped in nine kills.  Moravec also was effective on the service line with five aces.  Megan Kollmeyer (Tustin, Mich., Pine River) had 17 digs and Kelly Spychala (Des Plaines, Ill., Elk Grove) had 11 digs.  Kelly Sommers (Arlington Heights, Ill., Buffalo Grove) had a double-double with 51 assists and 17 digs while House also had a double-double with 12 digs in addition to her ten kills.
 
“This is a match I think our team would like over again,” said head coach Bob Vilsoet.  “And I think it's fair to say that despite Logan winning this one, both teams would have liked a redo.  Unfortunately, we outscored them by 15 points, but made crucial errors late in the sets so we lost three close sets at the end.  We learned some things to focus on here as a result of this loss.”
 
The Hawks were unable to regroup in the nightcap against #18 Lincoln Land College (Div. II), suffering a 3-0 defeat (18-25, 19-25, 20-25).  Dabrowski paced the Harper attack with eight kills and Erinn Hellweg (Wauconda, Ill., Wauconda) had six.  Sommers had a double-double with 23 assists and 15 digs, while Sam Wallenberg (Elk Grove, Ill., St. Viator) and House also hit double-digit digs.
 
“Lincoln Land was ready for us,” Vilsoet said.  “There were several general tactical items that we must address.  That's the nice thing about playing these tough out-of-region teams at our tournament.  It exposes our weaknesses that we need to fix.  And Lincoln Land certainly exposed them for us.”
 
Harper got back in the win column in their first match on Saturday, posting a sweep (25-17, 25-10, 25-15) of Minnesota State and Technical College.  House and Dabrowski led the team on offense with eight and seven kills, respectively.  Stephanie Igielski (Streamwood, Ill., St. Edwards) had team-highs of four aces and two blocks.  On defense, Kollmeyer had 12 digs and registered ten.  Sommers tallied 27 assists.
 
“We played very well in this match,” Vilsoet said.  “We transitioned well and finally began to execute our free ball plays.  ”
 
The Hawks closed the tourney in strong fashion with a 3-2 victory (22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-9, 15-3) over Black Hawk College on Saturday afternoon.  House had 16 kills on 29-of-29 hitting while Dabrowski added 14 kills.  Moravec, Hellweg and Igielski all had at least eight kills, as well.  Sommers had 53 assists directing the offense to go along with 23 digs.  She also scored her share of points with six aces.  Spychala, Hellweg, House, Dabrowski and Wallenberg also reached double figures in digs.
 
“This was a very exciting match where Black Hawk took the first two sets,” Vilsoet said.  “We made the right adjustments and went on to win the final three sets.  Sarah House (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) was phenomenal in the third set where she had nine kills and assisted on three blocks, in addition to her four digs.  She had another five kills in set four on her way to a team-high 16 kills on 29 attacks and no hitting errors for the match. Amazing job.  Veronica Dabrowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Rolling Meadows) came in and had six booming kills to ice the final game 15-3.”
 
After the tournament, Sommers and Dabrowski were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
 
The Hawks play their final home N4C match on Tuesday night, and it's an important one.  Harper hosts #8 Madison College at 6:00 PM, who are both tied for the conference lead with #2 Rock Valley College.  In their first match this season, the Hawks edged the WolfPack 3-2 (25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13) in Madison.