Box Score Joliet, IL: 10/14/2021

Harper College Volleyball defeated Joliet Jr. College in a close 5-set match.
 
In the first set, playing very well, Harper grabbed a 5-1 lead, and extended to 12-4 and 20-9 before winning 25-12.  There was very little drama.  Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) was 5-5 with 4 kills.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) was 6-6 with 3 kills.  Vicky Gorny added 3 kills.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had 11 assists.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 6 digs.  Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) was 6-7 serving with 3 aces.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 6-6 serving.

In the second set, Harper jumped out to a 4-0 and 10-2 lead again, but hit 2 out in a row… 10-4.  Then 12-6… 14-7 and a 16-10 lead when Joliet called timeout.  Harper extended to 20-11… but…  Joliet closed to 20-16, and then tied the score at 20-20… Then 21-21, 22-22, 24-24 and 25-25.  Harper lost 25-27.  Harper hit the last 3 attacks out of bounds.  This set should have been closed out with that 20-11 lead;  so now, instead of a 2-0 lead in sets, it is now 1-1 and its safe to say Joliet has momentum.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was tough this set with 5 kills.  Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) added 4 more kills.  Vicky Gorney also added 4 kills.  But Harper had 9 hitting errors in this set.  Setter Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had an unusually high 15 assists.  Joliet did not give up much in this close loss.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had 10 digs.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 7 digs, and Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) had 6 digs.  Taylor Faller was 5-7 serving with 1 ace.

In the third set, Harper jumped out to a 5-0 lead…and extended to 7-1 and 13-4.  After a couple missed serves, Harper called timeout at 15-9.  The lead was extended to 18-10, and again to the dreaded 20-11 score.  Harper extended to 23-13, and at 24-16 had the win on a touch but was not called… and subsequently, gave Joliet hope by getting outscored 2-9 to finally close out the win. Nothing like giving back momentum.  Natalila Smiech had 5 more kills.  Vicky Gorny, Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) and Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) each added 3 kills.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had 14 assists.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 6 digs.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) was 5-7 serving with another ace.

In the forth set, Harper took the lead 6-3, but Joliet closed the score to 6-6 on a line call Harper thought was out.  Harper fell behind 8-11 and missed a serve trying to catch up.  Then to 12-15, and 13-17 when Harper missed another serve.  Harper was behind 14-21 before easily losing their grip in a 15-25 loss, and again… no momentum.  In this struggle, Harper hit out another 9 times.  Vicky Gorny did get 4 kills and a block in this set.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 5 digs.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 7-7 serving with 2 aces.

In the final set, Joliet rode that momentum on a thunderous opening kill and continued to earn a 1-4 lead.  Harper finally tied the score at 7-7. Harper then led 8-7 on a Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) kill.  At 9-9 Harper missed a serve; and at 9-10 Harper chucked a ball deep.  Harper called timeout and regrouped – tied the score at 11-11.  A Jocelyn ace on the back line made the score 12-11.  On one of those nobody wants to lose ragamuffin plays, the ball ended up on Katie Hofmann's (/Elk Grove) hand and she smashed it for a 14-12 lead.  Harper had 2 tries to win the match, and won the match the second match-point on a deep swing down the line that was initially ruled out by the Joliet line judge, but was overruled by the up-referee, thankfully NOT bringing back shades of 2011.  Harper won this nail biter 15-13.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) did have 3 kills, and Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) had 3 kills on 5 attacks.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) added 2 kills, and Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) had 2 kills.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had 10 assists to overcome the 7 hitting errors.  Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) had 4 more digs for 17 total digs.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) added 3 more to attain her match-high 27 digs.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) added 3 more digs for her match total of 18 digs.  Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) was 4-4 serving.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) was 3-3 serving with an ace.
 
Next up:  Harper is at Rock Valley on Saturday for 2 matches.  In the first match, Harper will be in a rematch versus Illinois Central College at 9:00 a.m. – last time Harper lost in 4 in the Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford on the River; and then Elgin Community College at 11:00 p.m.