WHITEWATER, Wis. – The fourth ranked Harper College volleyball team won three out of their four matches on Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Tournament.  The Hawks took on the junior varsity teams of four-year schools and played best-of-three sets rather than their usual best-of-five sets format.
 
Harper (23-6, 6-1) began the day with a three-set loss to Elmhurst College JV (25-15, 21-25, 11-15).  Veronica Dabrowski (Des Plaines, Ill., Rolling Meadows) and Alyse Kolner (Crystal Lake, Ill., Marion Central) led the Hawks on attack with seven kills apiece, while Sarah House (Crystal Lake, Ill., Crystal Lake South) added six.  Dabrowski also led the team with 12 digs, while Kelly Sommers (Arlington Heights, Ill., Buffalo Grove) tallied 24 assists.
 
“This was a good match,” said head coach Bob Vilsoet.  “We remember playing Elmhurst College last year at Harper when the lights went out.  In my ten years coaching at Harper, that only happened that one time.  Today, we won the first set handily 25-15, but between errors and due to a much better Elmhurst team in sets two and three, we failed to close out this match.  A common theme seems to be inconsistency this year so far for our team.”
 
In the second match of the day, Harper rebounded with a sweep of Wartburg College JV (25-11, 25-23).  Clara Moravec (Lake in the Hills, Ill., Jacobs) had ten kills on 14-of-15 swinging and Dabrowski added eight kills.  Stephanie Igielski (Streamwood, Ill., St. Edwards) had her serve working with three aces.  Dabrowski had another solid defensive game with a taem-high 12 digs.  Valerie Bazemore (Houston, Tex., Westfield) got the start at setter and had 20 assists.
 
“This was a fun match,” Vilsoet said.  “We enjoyed playing against new competition we haven't seen before.  This is only the second time in ten years that Harper College has played Wartburg.  We've seen this before though, where we play very well in the first set, winning by a lot of points, but had trouble the second set, barely winning by two points.”
 
Harper continued their pattern of one dominant set and another close set in the third match of the day, a sweep of Millikin University JV (25-11, 28-26).  The team was led on attack by Igielski and Moravec, who had eight kills each, and Dabrowski with seven.  Rebekah Hischke (Algonquin, Ill., Dundee Crown) served up three aces while Kolner and Dabrowski had 12 and 11 digs, respectively.  Bazemore directed the offense with 27 assists.
 
“It is interesting how essentially the same lineup can win 25-11, but then barely win by two points,” Vilsoet said.  “We've seen this before.  We must strive to improve our consistency.  Fortunately, a win is a win, and it was good to gain some experience in a close match at the end.”
 
The Hawks won a tight final match of the day against Whitewater JV, earning a sweep (27-25, 25-23).  Moravec and House had seven kills apiece while Kolner had six.  House also had 2.5 blocks to lead the team.  Kelly Spychala (Des Plaines, Ill., Elk Grove) was the only Hawk to reach double figures in digs with 14 and Sommers handed out 23 assists.

“It's hard to win these close games, but we played with poise, and passed well enough to keep from losing too many points in a row in this match,” Vilsoet said.  “Fortunately, we came out ahead, albeit barely in these two close sets.  It is good experience to play in these close games against quality opponents that push us to play better, and shore up our mistakes.   This was a fun invitational today, that gave us a peek into four opponents, and provided plenty of opportunity for everyone to play.”
 
Harper resumes N4C play on Tuesday in a match at Joliet Junior College at 6:00 PM.  The Hawks beat the Wolves in three sets on Sept. 4.