Palatine, IL:  Harper College defeated North Park University JV in 4 sets, tonight.

In the first set, Harper took a 4-0 lead, and continued to lead 9-6. But North Park tied the score at 9-9 and 10-10.  Harper took a slim lead at 13-11… and maintained it 17-15, 18-16, 19-17, 20-18, and 23-21 after a timely and tight double hit call against North Park.  But North Park didn't give up, and tied the score at 24-24 before winning 24-26.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) led the way with 5 of Harper's 11 kills.  Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) had 10 assists.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 10 digs… Jocelyn Mercado (/Schaumburg) had 7 digs.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) was 9-9 serving with an ace.

In the second set, scores were tight at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, and 5-5, before Harper took a 9-5 lead.  Harper continued with leads of 11-6 and 12-7 before Harper relaxed and North Park tied the score at 14-14… 15-15 and 16-16.  Harper went back up-front with a 23-19 lead on the way to a 25-20 win.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) added 5 more kills…, Rugile Jaciunas (/Wheeling H.S.) had 4 kills on 6 swings, and Vicky Gorny added 3 kills.  Harper had 17 kills in this set… North Park was not giving up much!  Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) had 9 assists, and Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) had 7 assists.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.) had 7 digs, Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) had 6 digs, and Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) had 5 digs.  Taylor Pfaller (/St. Viator) was 8-8 serving with 2 aces.

In the third set, Harper started out ahead 5-1, 7-4, 12-8 22-18 on the way to a 25-19 win.  Katie Hoffman had 3 kills on 4 attacks, and Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) had 3 kills on 5 attacks.  Jules Carusiello (/Hersey H.S.), Alyssa Rodda (/Barrington) and Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) each had 4 digs.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 8-8 serving with 3 aces.

In the last set, the score was tied early at 2-2.  Harper took an 8-4 lead, and then a 10-5 lead.  Wisely North Park called timeout and promptly tied the score at 10-10 while Harper relaxed again after the timeout.  Harper went back ahead 15-12, and 20-15.  North Park took another one of those wise timeouts, and promptly scored 2 points… 20-17.  Harper dipped into the timeout bucket, refocused and scored the next 5 points in a row to win 25-17.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) had a field day with 6 kills to lead Harper.  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) led Harper with 4 digs.  Katie Hoffman was 9-9 serving with an ace.

For the match, Harper was 95-98 serving (97%) with 14 aces.  Cassie Schweikle (/Glenbard East) had 12 kills on 30 attacked with no hitting errors!  Natalia Smiech (/Dundee-Crown) was 29-33 hitting with 12 kills.

Next match is Thursday versus Milwaukee Area Technical College at Alverno College campus, at 7:00 p.m.