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Box Score 2 |
Box Score 3 |
Box Score 4 At Rockford UW Sports Factory Friday/Saturday, August 19/20, 2022
Harper traveled to the Opening Weekend Tournament at the UW Health Factory in Rockford, IL. This is the largest 2-year college tournament in the country.
On Friday, the Hawks open up against Division III #4 Central Lakes. Then, Harper plays Division II Rend Lake.
On Saturday, Harper Hawks play Division II Southeastern followed by Division III #6 Rochester. Harper College is ranked #8 in the preseason poll
D3 #8 Harper College defeated to D3 #3 Central
25-14, 25-16, 25-15
Friday, Aug 19, 10:00 a.m. at Rockford's UW Sports Factory
This is a top-level Division 3 match between two heavyweights that typically end up playing some classic and close matches. Fortunately for Harper College, today, Harper was well prepared for this match and took the match in 3 lopsided sets.
In set 1, Harper led 4-1, 7-2, and 13-7 when Central Lakes had seen enough and called a timeout. Harper extended the lead to 20-13 and won 25-14.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) led Harper with 3 kills and had 3 block assists with
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.). Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 6 assists. A va Belluomini added 3 kills in her college debut. Defensively,
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) was spectacular with 9 digs. Libero Alyssa had 5 digs.
In Set 2, as predicted, Central Lakes played better, and the score was tied several times at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 7-7 and 9-9. Harper went on a run and led 18-11, before winning 25-16.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had another 2 kills, 2 blocks and a block-assist.
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.) added 2 ½ blocks and a kill.
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 7 assists. Defensively,
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) and
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) each had 6 digs.
In set 3, another typical close start… there were ties at 2-2, 3-3, 5-5, 6-6 and 9-9 when Harper got a run to take a 16-10 lead, then extended to 19-11 and a 25-15 win.
Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) came alive with 4 kills and 2.0 blocks.
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.) added 3 \kills. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 7 assists.Defeinsively,
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) led Harper with 4 digs. Gabby Albrecht was 6-7 serving with an ace.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) was 5 of 6 serving with an ace.
Coach
Bob Vilsoet said,
"This was a big win. Both of these teams are ranked in the pre-season top 10. Hopefully we can stay ahead of Central Lakes for the remainder of the season."
D3 #8 Harper College defeated to D2 Rend Lake
25-23, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21
Friday, Aug 19, noon. at Rockford's UW Sports Factory
Rend Lake had some nice hitters that Harper had to deal with. In Set 1, Harper started out nicely with a 3-0 lead… but the score ended up tied at 5-5, 8-8 and 9-9 before Harper stormed ahead 17-11 and 21-14 in what appeared to be a safe lead. Rend Lake put together some nice hitting to pull within 24-23 before Harper earned the final point to win 25-23.
Abbie Greenberg (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) opened up with a very encouraging 3 kills on 5 attacks in her first college set. Gabby Albrecht had 8 assists.
In Set 2, Harper took a commanding 8-2 lead, but Rend Lake quickly stormed back to 9-9 and 11, and 12-12. Harper jumped ahead again 16-12 and 21-15 in what appeared to be a safe lead again. But Harper missed a serve at 23-19 and lost momentum… which included the last 6 points in a row for an unexpected 23-25 give away loss.
Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) also made her college debut and had a block and a block-assist plus a kill.
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.) added 3 kills. Libero
Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) led Harper with 7 digs. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 6 digs, and
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 5 digs.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) got loose serving with 7-7 and 4 aces.
In Set 3, the game started out even at 2-2 and 8-8. Harper took a slim 10-8, 14-10 and 15-11 before Rend Lake pulled back to 17-17. Harper fell behind 18-20, but tied the score in time at 23-23. Finally, after going back and forth a few times, Harper ended up with a 27-25 win in this pivotal 3
rd set.
Abbie Greenberg (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) was on-fire again with 4 kills on 5 swings in this set.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) added 5 kills in this extended set. Running a 6-2,
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) stepped in and led Harper with 7 assists.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) led Harper with 5 digs.
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.),
Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) and
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) each had 4 digs. It was
Ava Belluomini's (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) turn with 9-9 serving and 4 aces.
In Set 4, another close one ensued… The score was 1-1, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Harper took an 8-5 and 10-5 lead. Rend Lake closed the gap to 14-11, 16-14, and finally tied the game at 16-16. Harper scored 4 to take a 20-16 lead, and 21-17 lead and 23-21 lead on the way to a 25-21 win.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 3 kills and
Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) had 4 kills.
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had a breakout game with 13 assists. Back at Libero,
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) was all over the place on defense with 11 digs. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) added 4 more digs. Ava stayed on her serving roll with 8-8 serving and 2 aces.
Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) finished the match with 7 digs.
D3 #8 Harper College lost to D2 Southeastern
20-25, 19-25, 24-26
Saturday, Aug 20, 1:00 p.m. at Rockford's UW Sports Factory
Harper fell behind in Set 1 early at 4-9, but nearly caught up at 11-12; then fell behind 16-20 again, on the way to a 20-25 loss. Harper was never really in control of this set.
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.) led Harper with 4 kills.
Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) added 3 kills. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 11 assists. Libero
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 11 digs.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 7 digs.
Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) was 7-7 serving with an ace.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) was 6-6 serving with an ace.
Harper, changing the lineup in the second set, and started out better this set at 4-4 and 5-5, but still found itself at 11-12 just like set 1; fell behind by 4 points at 13-17 on the way to a 19-25 loss.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 3 kills… of Harper's 7 kills total. Libero
Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) stepped in with 8 digs. Playing DS,
Cassie Schweikle (Lombard/Glenbard East H.S.) had 5 digs.
Asia Williams (Hoffman Estates/Conant H.S.) had 4 digs.
Harper executed much better in this 3
rd set… with tie scores at 6-6, 8-8, 9-9, 11-11, and 13-13… but this time took the 20-16 lead… Harper kind of limped to a 24-23 margin and made a major block to seemingly win the game… BUT the down judge with the eagle eyes spotted Harper in the net. Apparently affected, Harper shanked the next 3 passes and lost. We video the games in HD (high definition), and the video clearly showed we were truly in the net. Unfortunately for Harper - a good call. Harper felt if we just got into game 4, the momentum would shift.
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 4 kills.
Abbie Greenberg (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) added 3 kills and 1 ½ blocks. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 10 assists.
Cassie Schweikle (Lombard/Glenbard East H.S.) had another 5 digs. Middle Hitter
Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) led Harper with 6-6 serving and an ace.
Southwestern played very well in this match. The bright spot is that Harper does indeed have a talented and deep roster, this year.
D3 #8 Harper College lost to #6 Rochester, MN
19-25, 25-21, 14-25, 27-29
Saturday, Aug 20, 5:00 p.m. at Rockford's UW Sports Factory
On paper, this looks like a battle of the Heavyweights…#8 Harper v #6 Rochester.
in set 1, Harper had been sitting since 2:00 p.m., and Rochester just finished a good match with Parkland. Harper fell behind 1-4, then 4-7, 10-14, 12-17 on the way to a 19-25 loss.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) led Harper with 3 kills. Ava Belluomii led Harper with 5 digs.
In Set 2, Harper took a 5-1 lead, then 10-5, but Rochester tied the score at 14-14, 15-15 and 16-16. Harper took a 22-17 lead and a 25-21 win.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had another 4 kills…
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 4 kills. Newcomer
Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) added 3 kills on 9 attacks. Setter
Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 12 assists.
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had another 7 digs in this set. DS
Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) added 7 digs in this set.
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) got loose with 7-8 serving and 3 aces, one ace landed on the far back corner.
In Set 3, Rochester came back with a vengeance, and took a 6-0 lead, and won easily 14-25.
Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) did have 2 ½ blocks and a kill in this set Harper had only 8 kills and only10 digs in this set. Libero
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) led Harper with with 4 digs.
In Set 4, Harper changed its lineup again which became a very entertaining match. Harper took a 6-3 lead. The score was tied at 10-10, 15-15 and 20-20… and again at 25-25… 26-26, 27-27, when Harper lost its grip to lose another nail biter and fell 27-29.
Katie Hofmann (Des Plaines/Elk Grove H.S.) had 4 kills on her last 4 attack attempts.
Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 5 kills.
Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 4 kills.
Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) added 2 kills and a block. Libero
Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) came in and led Harper with 8 digs.
Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) was 5-5 serving with an ace. Setter
Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 16 assists in this last set - out of Harper's 27 points.
National Rankings Ramifications:
- #8 Harper defeated #3 Central Lakes in 3 sets.
- #3 Central Lakes defeated #1 Owens in 5 sets.
- #4 College of DuPage defeated #3 Central Lakes in 5 sets.
- #6 Rochester defeated #8 Harper in 4 sets.
- UPDATE on Sunday 8/21/2022… #4 College of DuPage defeated #6 Rochester in 4 sets, AND #4 College of DuPage defeated #1 Owens – also in 4 sets.
Harper goes to Rochester on September 9. After a 5-hour bus ride, Harper will fall out of the bus, and play Rochester in a 3:00 p.m. match; then after that, a late 7:00 p.m. match against #2 Minnesota State - Fergus Falls.
