Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Benton Harbor, IL: 10/23/2021

Harper College traveled to Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan to play both Ancilla College and Great Lakes Christian College.  Harper College had a good day today and won both matches.  For the week, Harper College was 4-0… also defeating Madison College on Tuesday in 3 sets and College of DuPage on Thursday in an instant classic 5-set war. 

Harper College finished the year 24-13 overall, and will play Rock Valley at Rock Valley on Thursday, October 28 in the Region IV Semi-Finals.  The other Semi-Final match will be College of DuPage driving cross-country to Madison, Wisconsin. 

The Region IV Final match will be Saturday at the Highest Seed.

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Harper College defeated Ancilla College 22-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-14

In the first set, Harper College took an early lead 7-4, but then Ancilla tied the score several times at 11-11, 14-14 and 15-15.  Harper fell behind 15-17 and failed to catch up… 16-19, and then a 22-25 loss.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) started out hot and had 5 kills on 9 attacks in an error-free set.  Jocelyn Mercado (/Schaumburg), playing libero led Harper with 6 digs.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) and Vicky Gorny each had 5 digs.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 5-5 serving with 2 aces.  Jocelyn Mercado (/Schaumburg) was also 5-5 serving.

In the second set, Harper made some changes, but started out slow at 0-4 and 2-6.  Harper hit a couple out in a row and remained behind at 7-8.  Finally Harper took a 13-11 lead… and stretched it to 18-14, and held on for leads at 19-15 and 21-15 for a 25-19 win.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) led Harper again with 3 kills in this set.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) was 6-6 serving with 2 aces.  Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) was 6-6 serving with 2 aces.

In the third set the scores were even at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5, before Harper fell behind again at 6-9, 9-13, 11-14, 12-16 and 15-17 before tying the score at 17-17.  Harper then took the lead at 19-17 and finished strong with a 25-19 win.  Rugiel Jaciunas was literally unstoppable in this set with 5 kills on 5 attacks and 2 block-kills.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) had 4 kills on 5 attacks.  Patricia Wadas (/Hoffman Estates) added 4 kills and a block-kill.  Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) added 3 kills.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) finished with 15 assists.  Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) was 7-8 serving.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) and Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) were each 5-5 serving.

In the final set, Harper rode the momentum with leads of 7-1, 8-2, 10-4, 16-8, 19-9 before winning 25-14.  This set Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) had the hot hand with 6 kills for a match-high 14 kills.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) added 2 more kills to get to 11 kills for the match.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) added 10 more assists.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) led Harper with 6 digs.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) added 5 digs.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) found a rhythm serving and was 9-8 serving with 2 aces.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 5-5 serving with an ace.
For the match, Harper was 90 of 95 serving (94.7%), with 10 aces (2.5 aces/set).

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Harper College defeated Great Lakes Christian College 25-13,25-18, 25-8

In the first set, Harper zoomed ahead 6-0, and then 10-1, and 12-3 on the way to a 25-13 win.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 7-7 hitting with 4 kills.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) was 3-4 with 3 kills, and we thought that 4^th attack was in-bounds – the up-ref overruled the line-judge.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 7-7 hitting with 4 kills. Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) was 6-6 hitting with 3 kills.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 10 assists.  Vicky Gorny and Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) led Harper with 3 digs each.  The story in this set was Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) who was 10-10 serving with 4 aces!  Jocelyn Mercado (/Schaumburg) was 7-7 serving with an ace.

In the second set, Harper had another commanding lead at 18-10, 20-13, and a 25-18 win.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) was a perfect 5-5 attacks with 5 kills… and a block.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 10 assists.  Vicky Gorny led Harper with 4 digs.  Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) was at it again with 5-5 serving with 2 aces.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) got in on the serving act with 6-7 serving and 2 aces.

In the third set, there were ties at 4-4 and 5-5.  At 6-5, Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) started serving…. 13 serves including 3 aces later Harper led 18-6 on the way to a 25-8 win.  This set, Cassie was 6-6 attacks and 5 kills, for a final hitting line of 14-15 attacks with 14 kills which equates to a 93% hitting efficiency!  If only that ball that landed in the corner was called in.  Rugile had 2.5 blocks in the 3^rd set.  Vicky Gorny led Harper with 8 digs while Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) added 4 digs.  Katie Hofmann (/Elk Grove) was 12-13 with 3 aces.  All 13 serves were in a row.  Daniela Pineda (/Buffalo Grove) was 7-7 serving with aces.

Harper was clearly on a roll in this last regular season match. Harper finished the regular season 24-13, and on Monday, should be placed back into the National Top-10 poll.

Regional Playoffs start Thursday, October 28, 2021.  Harper will travel to Rockford to play Rock Valley in the Region Semi-Finals.