PALATINE, IL-  The #1 ranked Harper College volleyball team hosted the COD Chaparrals on Tuesday and finished a three-game sweep in dominating fashion.

The first set began with Harper taking an early 5-2 lead and not slowing down after, seeing leads of 13-4, 17-5, and 20-13 before winning by a score of 25-13.  Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian) as been on fire for the past week and kept rolling with 7 kills to lead the team.  Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) had 3 kills and a block.  Emily Huprich (/Elgin) continued her dominant season with another 11 assists.  The tandem of Ariana Chelini (/Crystal Lake South) and Breanna Cullen (/Oregon) totaled 9 digs and had an ace on 13-15 serving.

COD showed signs of life to begin the second set as the score was tied 2-2, but Harper took off after that on the way to a 9-3 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way.  After extending the lead to 14-6 and 19-7, Harper left no room for late set drama and took the second set 25-11.  Burzlaff led the team again with 4 kills while Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) continued her strong play up front with 2 kills and 3 block-kills.  Huprich reached double-digits again with 10 more assists.  Chelini, Cullen, and Huprich all chipped in on the defensive end with 4 digs each.

The third set was exciting from the beginning, as the teams were tied seven times throughout.  After ties at 1-1, 4-4, and 6-6, the Hawks found themselves behind for the first time at 11-13.  However, they would battle their way back to the first of four more ties at 14-14, 15-15, 17-17, and 18-18.  Breanna Cullen (/Oregon) had enough of the ties and her superb serving gave the Hawks a 25-19 win, giving Harper their 16th three-set sweep of the season.  Besides leading the team again with 8 more kills, Burzlaff also had 7 digs.  No surprise to anyone, Emily Huprich (/Elgin) had 13 assists and 4 digs.  Cullen finished the set 10-10 serving with 2 aces.

Harper had two players finish with double-doubles as Emily Huprich (/Elgin) had 10 digs and 34 assists while Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian) had 19 kills and 10 digs.  Ariana Chelini (/Crystal Lake South) led the team with 14 digs in the match and Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) had 4 blocks.  Head coach Bob Vilsoet was happy to see large leads that the Hawks were able to turn into dominating victories saying, "We played very well tonight!  It was encouraging to get those large leads at the beginning of the first 2 sets."

The Hawks are now 27-5 overall and 9-0 in the N4C.  On Thursday, the Hawks will travel to Rockford to take on the Rock Valley Golden Eagles at 6pm.  In their first meeting this season, the Hawks defeated the Golden Eagles in straight sets.