PALATINE, Ill. – The seventh-ranked Harper volleyball team avenged an early-season loss to Oakton Community College with a four-set victory (25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 25-20) over the visiting Raiders on Thursday night.

The Hawks (20-7) led from the onset of the first set. The Raiders (12-9) cut an 11-6 deficit to 18-17, but Harper finished the set strong for the win. Harper carried over the momentum in the second set as they took a 7-2 lead, but Oakton capitalized on 12 hitting errors from the Hawks to pull away late for the victory.

Harper fell into a 14-7 hole in the third set. Behind strong serving from Lindsey Murphy (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Crystal Lake South), the Hawks pulled to 14-12 and tied the score at 15-15. Alyssia Dugo (Algonquin, Ill. /Jacobs) gave the team a boost with more strong serving to make it 19-15, and Harper won the set to take a 2-1 lead.

The Hawks led 14-9 in the fourth set before the Raiders tied it at 15-15. Harper closed on a 10-5 run to win the match.

Kim Butler (Palatine, Ill/Palatine) paced the Harper attack with a team-high 11 kills. Daniele Sortino (Elk Grove Village, Ill. /Elk Grove) reached double figures with 10 kills, and Dugo put down nine kills, tallied 13 digs, and was also 14-of-15 serving with two aces.

Murphy played an excellent all-around match with 23 digs, 22 assists, and 28-of-29 serving with an ace. Jillian Hoffman (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) totaled 21 assists to go along with nine digs, and libero Meghan Chartier (Inverness, Ill./Buffalo Grove) provided a strong defensive effort with 25 digs.

"Oakton was playing strong defense, and we had to find ways to break them down offensively," said Harper head coach Bob Vilsoet. "Oakton is a good team this year, and I believe both teams enjoyed playing this fun and competitive match. Hopefully both teams improved just a little bit more as a result of this exciting match."

The Hawks return to the court on Saturday for the Harper College Invite. Harper plays Moraine Valley Community College at 10 AM, Black Hawk College-East at 11:30 AM and a to be determined match to close out the day.