WISCONSIN DELLS, WI-  The defending NJCAA National Champion Harper volleyball team opened the season with tough tests in the Battle for the Dells Tournament this past weekend.  The team finished the tournament with a 2-2 record, including a big win against the #19 ranked school in Division II.

MATCH 1- Harper Defeats D2 #19 Muskegon (25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-21)

On Friday, Harper was able to take down Division II Muskegon in four sets.  The beginning of the first match set the tone for what proved to be a well fought battle.  Set one started out tied at 5 before Harper took an 8-5 lead causing Muskegon to call a time out.  The Hawks responded by extending the lead to 13-7 and took control to eventually take the set by a 25-19 score.  Harper was able to take that momentum into set two, taking an early 13-4 lead before taking the set at 25-16.  Muskegon was able to take back control in set three with a 25-21 win causing a fourth set.  Set four was a battle all the way until the end, seeing three ties before Harper finally took a 20-17 lead that they rode until the final score of 25-21. 

As a team, Harper served 86 for 94 (91%) with 7 aces.  Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian) finished an astounding 27 of 27 with 5 aces.  Breanna Cullen (/Oregon) (15 of 17, 2 aces) and Emily Huprich (/Elgin) (20 of 21) also contributed to the team's strong serving.  Harper also hit at an efficient 15% (144 of 166), totaling 47 kills.  Burzlaff added 14 kills, while Marielle Lugo (/Hoffman Estates) (12), Mackenzie Bush (/Bartlett) (9) and Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) (7) helped round out the team's offensive attack.  On the defensive end, the Hawks received 4 blocks from Bush and 2 block a piece from Lugo and Udoni.  Burzlaff (12 digs), Cullen (28 digs), Huprich (12 digs), Marielle Lugo (/Hoffman Estates) (18 digs), and Ariana Chelini (/Crystal Lake South) (20 digs) all contributed in big ways.  Huprich also finished with 41 assists in the match.  Burzlaff, Huprich, and Lugo all finished with double-doubles in the match.

Head Coach Bob Vilsoet was proud of the way the team came out and was able to work hard for the victory.  ""Muskegon is a very strong team.  We played well.  The thing about these 3 of 5 set matches. Even if you win the first set, you sure still have to play well the entire match to get the win.  I'm glad we executed well enough to win this match. It shows we have a very good team again, this year.  This was a big win for this year's team."

MATCH 2- Harper Loses to D2 #8 Sauk Valley (25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 14-25)

The Hawks were able to take the positive vibes from their first win into the opening set against Sauk Valley.  Harper took a strong start and rolled into a 25-19 set one victory.  Set two was a precursor for the rest of the match for the Hawks.  After falling behind 5-9, the team was not able to scrape up enough of a comeback and ended up falling 17-25.  In the third set, the Hawks were able to keep the match within striking distance, never trailing by more than 3 points after falling behind 8-12.  The set eventually ended in a 23-25 loss leading into the decisive set for Sauk Valley which coasted into a 14-25 final score.

Another efficient offensive output was unfortunately not enough to lead the Hawks to victory.  Harper served at a 92% clip, adding on 4 total aces, one a piece from Breanna Cullen (/Oregon), Gabby Fugle (/Wauconda), Emily Huprich (/Elgin), and Marielle Lugo (/Hoffman Estates).  Hitting at 12% for the match with 41 kills, Harper received strong contributions from Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian) (27 of 34, 8 kills),  Cullen (26 of 32, 9 kills), Lugo (27 of 29, 13 kills), and Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) (19 of 25, 7 kills).  On defense, Udoni lead the way with 2 of the team's 5 total blocks, while Ariana Chelini (/Crystal Lake South) (19 digs), Cullen (18 digs), Burzlaff (14 digs), Karolina Sas (/Fremd) (13 digs), and Huprich (11 digs) played tough.  Huprich lead the way with 33 assists on the way to her second double-double of the season.

Vilsoet feels that execution will be a key to Harper's success moving forward.  "Sauk Valley appears to be a very good team again this year.  I think it's fair to say we played well, but could have executed a bit better. Losing a set 23-25 was the difference between going to a deciding set 5, or not.  Execution does need to improve.  We will have to focus on that in practice." 

MATCH 3- Harper Defeats Rochester (25-13, 25-11, 25-22)

Saturday brought new life into the Hawks as they rebounded from Friday night's loss with a 3-set sweep of Division III Rochester.  Harper put on a clinic from the beginning of the first set, jumping ahead 6-0 before finishing off a 25-13 win.  Set two brought more of the same as the score was 17-9 in Harper's favor before a Rochester time-out.  After the break in action, the Hawks closed out a 25-11 win heading into set three.  After running away with the first two, victory would not come as easily this time around.  Harper was up 12-9 before Rochester scratched back to make it 15-14 and 23-21 before the Hawks eventually closed off the match with a 25-22 set three win.

Harper saw contributions from top to bottom with standouts being Breanna Cullen (/Oregon) (11 kills, 3 aces, 15 digs, 10 assists), Marielle Lugo (/Hoffman Estates) (9 kills, 1 block, 16 digs), and Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian) (7 kills, 6 digs, 19 assists).  Cullen's efforts impressed Vilsoet, "I cannot even remember the last time a player had a triple-double!  Have we ever had one here in my 15 years?  Nice job Breanna!"

MATCH 4- Harper Loses to D2 #7 Kirkwood (20-25, 25-19, 7-25, 24-26)

In the last match of the Battle for the Dells, Harper faced its toughest opponent in D2 #7 Kirkwood.  Once again using the momentum from their earlier victory, the Hawks were able to jump out to a 4-0 lead before extending it to 7-2.  Kirkwood was able to come back to tie the set at 11 all before the Hawks came back ahead 16-14.  Once again, Kirkwood was able to bounce back into the final score of 20-25.  Set two brought on another tough challenge for both squads, fighting to a 15-15 tie until Harper was able to take an 18-15 lead they would not relinquish on the way to a 25-19 victory.  Set three was one to forget for the Hawks as four unforced errors had them behind 3-6 early before giving way to a 7-25 loss.  Harper needed a strong fourth set to extend the match to a deciding fifth set and they appeared well on their way into doing so.  Harper led 9-7, 20-11, and 21-14 before Kirkwood again mounted a comeback to tie the set at 24.  Harper was unable to hold back a strong Kirkwood team as they took the fourth set 24-26, ending the match.

Although Harper was again efficient with their serving, they were only able to muster one ace, which is a testament to Kirkwood's strong serve receivers.  The Hawks attacking was not as efficient as in previous matches, this time recording 12 kills from Ellie Burzlaff (/Harvest Christian), 8 from Mackenzie Bush (/Bartlett), and 6 from Breanna Cullen (/Oregon).  On defense, Sarah Udoni (/Palatine) contributed 4 blocks and Bush added on 3.5 of her own.  Harper totaled 104 digs, 23 from Cullen, 20 from Ariana Chelini (/Crystal Lake South), 17 from Karolina Sas (/Fremd), 12 from Emily Huprich (/Elgin) and Marielle Lugo (/Hoffman Estates), and 11 from Burzlaff.  Huprich and Burzlaff finished the match with double-doubles.

Vilsoet was able to take a lot from the loss, "That's too bad we 'gave away' the 4^th set.  We had a 20-11 lead.  At least we gave it away to a very good team.  With the strong lead we did have in game 4, I felt confident that we would have momentum and would have fared well in a deciding set 5.  The key here is execution.  Setting locations needed to be more precise and the hitters needed to insure they hit smarter.  We had 10 hitting errors in that 24-26 loss, which in some ways is encouraging.  It shows we have a strong defense." 

Overall, Vilsoet was encouraged by how the team handled the start to the season.  "Regarding the entire tournament.  We played some VERY tough teams; 3 ranked in the Top 20 of D2, and 2 ranked in the top 10 of D2; plus played the 2015 D3 national champion.  Two wins and two losses was not the record I hoped we would attain, but the way we played showed we play at a high level and that we have a LOT of potential with not too much that we must fix.  All in all, I was able to get everybody in to play some; this was a very good tournament, and a very encouraging start to the season!"