PALATINE, Ill. – Volleyball fans were treated to a battle of top-10 teams on Thursday night inside the Wellness & Sports Center at Harper College. The sixth-ranked Harper Hawks hosted the fourth-ranked Rock Valley Golden Eagles.

After Harper (26-12, 7-3 N4C) won the first set, Rock Valley (24-6, 9-1 N4C) displayed its strong outside hitting and went on to win the next three sets to win the match, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 26-24.

In a long first set, the Hawks held a 13-5 lead early before the Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 13-12. However, Harper maintained control and held leads of 19-17 and 23-20 before prevailing 25-22. Daniele Sortino (Elk Grove Village, Ill. /Elk Grove) put down six kills in the first set while Sarah Berggren (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) had three. Katelyn Sommers (/Buffalo Grove) guided the offensive effort with 14 assists, and libero Meghan Chartier (Inverness, Ill./Buffalo Grove) led the defensive charge with 10 digs.

The Hawks led late in the second set (17-16), but the visitors closed on a 9-3 run to even the match at 1-1. For Harper, Sortino added four more kills.

Harper was not sharp in the third set and only had five total kills in the set, losing 25-16. Sommers, Jillian Hoffman (Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey), and Hannah Moore (/Schaumburg) each had four digs.

Needing a win in the fourth set to keep the match alive, the Hawks played the Golden Eagles evenly as the teams traded points throughout. Trailing 23-21, Harper evened it at 23-23 and 24-24, but Rock Valley closed out the match by scoring the last two points. Sortino and Berggren both had three kills while Sommers had 10 assists and nine digs in the set.

Hawks Leaders

Kills: Daniele Sortino (Elk Grove Village, Ill. /Elk Grove) 29-of-31, 13 kills

Serving: Katelyn Sommers (/Buffalo Grove) 17-of-17

Blocking: Sarah Berggren (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) three blocks

Digs: Meghan Chartier (Inverness, Ill./Buffalo Grove) 28 digs (two digs shy of fourth 30-dig match in a row)

Assists: Katelyn Sommers (/Buffalo Grove) 39 assists

Double-Double: Katelyn Sommers (/Buffalo Grove) 20 digs, 39 assists

Harper returns to the court on Saturday at the South Suburban Quad. The Hawks play South Suburban College at 9 AM followed by Illinois Valley Community College at 11 AM. Harper finishes the day with a 1 PM match against Malcolm X College.