August 26/27, 2022: At College of DuPage Invitational-

Harper traveled to College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn to play 4 matches this weekend.  There were two marquis matchups scheduled…

• #8 Harper College v #7 Finger Lakes on Friday at 6:00 p.m., and
• #8 Harper College v #2 Minnesota State and Technical College – Fergus Falls on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

In addition, Harper was going to play two underrated Minnesota teams – St. Cloud Technical College and a NEW and very underrated second year program Century College (St. Paul/Minneapolis).

D3 #8 Harper College lost to D3 St. Cloud Tech 25-20, 16-25, 18-25, 20-25

Friday, Aug 26, 2:00 p.m. at College of DuPage

Glen Ellyn, IL:  St. Cloud Tech is another one of the strong Minnesota teams coming down to play in this 9-team College of DuPage Division III 'only' tournament.

After watching warmups and seeing how strong St. Cloud Tech is, set 1 began.  Harper fell behind 6-9 but found ways to catch up at 15-15. Harper took a 20-17 lead then 21-20 and won 25-20.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) started out strong with 4 kills and no hitting errors. Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) added 3 kills and a block. Libero Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) and setter Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) led Harper with 4 digs, each.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) was 5-5 serving with 2 aces.  Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) was also 5-5 serving with 2 aces.

In the second set, Minnesota Tech took a strong lead at 2-8 and 5-13 on the way to a 16-25 win.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 3 kills in this set; Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) added 3 more kills.  The only other Harper kill in the set was one from Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.).  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.), Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) and Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) each had 5 digs in this set.

In the third set, Harper was never really in control of this close set, falling barely behind at 9-11 and 10-13, 13-16, 14-19, 15-21 and lost 18-25.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) added 3 more kills, Abbie Greenberg (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) joined the fray, played well and had 3 kills plus a block.  Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) led Harper with 5 more digs.  In this set, ava Belluomini and Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) were both 4-4 serving and each had 2 aces.

In the last set, Harper had a slim 11-10 lead, extended to 16-12 but St. Cloud tied the score at 17-17 on what seemed like an illegal but not-called back-row attack.  The score remained tied for the last time at 19-19 when St. Cloud went on a roll toward a 20-25 win.  In this last set the lone bright spot was Abbie Greenberg's (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) blocking.  Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) added another 5 digs for a team-high 19 digs in this 4-set match.  In this last set, Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) was 4-4 serving with an ace and led Harper this match with 15 serves.

Harper had 6 hitting errors in each of the last 3 sets which led to the 3 straight losses.

D3 #8 Harper College defeated D3 #7 Finger Lakes 25-17, 25-22, 25-17

Friday, Aug 26, 6:00 p.m. at College of DuPage

Glen Ellyn, IL:  Finger Lakes was ranked #7 coming into the season. They drove a long way from New York yesterday.

In the first set, after a 2-2 tie, Harper took a 7-4 lead and extended it a bit to 13-7, 18-14, 20-17 on the way to a 25-17 win.  Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) had 4 kills on 4 swings and a block.  Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) had a game!  She had 6 kills on 6 swings plus 2 blocks!  Harper had 14 kills in this set, and setter Eden Suh (Buffalo Grove/Buffalo Grove H.S.) assisted on all of them.  

In the second set, after a 3-3 tie, Harper extended the lead to 12-10, but found itself in a tie at 15-15, and 16-16.  Harper fell behind 17-20, then caught up at 22-22 and won 25-22.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 4 kills.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) and Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) each added 3 more kills.  Harper had 13 kills in this set, and setter Eden Suh (Buffalo Grove/Buffalo Grove H.S.) assisted on 11 of them.  Harper needed a bunch of digs from Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) (5), Cana Jones (Walton, IN/Lewis Cass H.S.) (5) and Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) (5), plus Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) (4).

In the third set, Harper used the momentum and after a 4-4 tie, led 17-9; lost some ground at 20-16 but still won 25-17.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 3 more kills and a block.  Harper had 10 kills in this set;  even libero Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) chipped in with 2 kills.  Eden Suh (Buffalo Grove/Buffalo Grove H.S.) added 8 more assists for a match-high 33 assists (11.0 assists/set).  Jocelyn Mercado (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.) led Harper with 7 digs, for a match-high 15 digs total.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) got on a serving roll and was 11-11 with 2 aces.  For the match, Natalia was 21-21 serving with 3 aces.

D3 #8 Harper College lost to D3 #2 Minnesota State and Technical College  25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 12-15

Saturday, Aug 27, 10:00 a.m. at College of DuPage

Glen Ellyn, IL:  Minnesota State and Technical College was ranked #2 in the pre-season rankings.  Minnesota State drove a long way yesterday and spent some time in the city earlier in the day up high in one of the observation towers downtown.

In the first set, Harper started out strong with a 3-0 lead, but Minnesota State outscored Harper on the next 10 of 14 points and took a 7-10 lead.  Minnesota State extended the lead to 11-15, but watched Harper tie the score at 19-19 and 20-20.  During the timeout Harper said, "Watch the tip", and after the timeout that's exactly what Harper did as the tip hit the floor.  At 21-21, Harper missed a serve…  but took a 23-22 lead on a strong Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) hit, and then won the set on two strong hits from Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) and Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) for a 25-23 win.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) ended this set with 7 kills!  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) added 4 kills.  Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) had a kill and 2 blocks.  Setter Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 14 assists.  Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) led Harper with 8 digs.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) was 7-7 serving.

In this hard-fought second set, the score was tied early at 3-3.  Harper fell behind 7-12 and 13-16 when Minnesota State was trying to avenge the first set loss.  Harper had to win the 14-16 point twice, and but fell behind 15-18.  Harper pulled within 21-22 on a kill from Natalie Smiech, and then tied the score at 22-22 on an Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) ace.  Minnesota State scored on another tip, and Harper tied it again at 23-23 on another Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) kill.  Minnesota State won the match on a well-executed slide for a 23-24 point lead and won the game when Harper was called for landing in the net… (gotta look at the video on that one);  a 23-25 loss for Harper.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 6 kills in this set.  Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) added 3 kills and a block. Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 9 digs, and Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) had 8 digs.  Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) was 6-6 serving with an ace. Playing serving specialist this set was Asia Williams (Hoffman Estates/Conant H.S.) who was 6-6 serving.

For the third set Harper started out strong with leads of 7-4 and 12-9, then fell to 15-15 tie… fell behind 19-23 and lost 22-25.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 4 kills in this set.  Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) had 2 kills and 1 ½ blocks.  Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 7 digs.

In the fourth set, Harper led 7-6, 10-8, extended to 17-12, and 20-12 before a strong 25-14 win.  Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) got loose for another 6 kills.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) added 3 more.  Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) was deadly with 5 kills and a block.  Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 10 digs;  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 9 digs.  Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) had 6 digs.  A focused Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) was 11-11 serving with 2 aces.

In the deciding fifth set, Harper took a 3-0 lead and then missed a serve.  Harper continued to a 5-3 lead, then hit the next two attacks out of bounds to fall behind at 5-6.  At 6-6, Harper's Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) scored on an ace to take a 7-6 lead.  A couple double hit calls against Minnesota State extended Harper's lead to 9-7. Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) nailed a kill to help Harper to a 10-8 lead.  Another Tess kill pushed the score to 11-9.  After that, Harper's passing struggled. Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) stopped the bleeding with a kill to pull within 12-13, but a one-armed dig attempt and lack of coverage finished a 12-15 loss for Harper.  Tess remained hot with 4 more kills and no errors, but Harper had 6 hitting errors in this 15-point set.  Setter Gabby Elbrecht (Owings, MD/Northern H.S.) led Harper with 4 digs.

For the match, Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) had 18 kills, and Ava Belluomini (Mount Prospect/Resurrection H.S>) ended with 16 kills.  Tess O'Gara (Chicago/Resurrection H.S.) also had a breakout match with 14 kills and 4 ½ block-kills.

This was a well fought match between two solid volleyball programs.  No matter who won this match, both teams played well in the end. The season is still early and many of the problems either team had will be cleaned up by the year's end and the volleyball will become even more spectacular to watch.

D3 #8 Harper College lost to D3 Century College 22-25, 21-25, 18-25

Saturday, Aug 27, 2:00 p.m. at College of DuPage

Glen Ellyn, IL:  Century College is in its second year out of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  They are in the very tough Minnesota region along with Rochester who is ranked #2, Minnesota State and Technical College (Fergus Falls), who are ranked #2, St. Cloud who SHOULD be ranked, and of course Century College. This is a very consistent team that doesn't seem to be relying on one or two superstars.

In the first set, there were many ties between these two talented teams… 6-6, 14-14, 15-15, 18-18, and 20-20 when Harper missed a serve and Century took a slim 20-22 lead, and milked it to the end with a lead of 21-23 and a 22-25 win.  Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) had 3 kills.  Abbie Greenberg (Schaumburg/Schaumburg H.S.), playing middle had 3 kills.  Libero Alyssa Rodda (Inverness/Barrington H.S.) had 7 digs.  Setter Eden Suh (Buffalo Grove/Buffalo Grove H.S.) and Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) each had 5 digs.

In the second set, there were ties again at 8-8, 10-10 and 14-14.  Similarly in this set Century grabbed that small advantage and led 18-21, and 20-22 again for a 21-25 win.  Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) had 3 kills, and Stacy Maimur (Wheeling/Stevenson H.S.) had 3 kills and a block.  Alyssa Rodd had 7 more digs.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) added 5 digs.

In the third set, a different lineup from Harper College didn't help, and Harper fell behind 5-6, 6-12 and lost 18-25.  Tess, back in, had 1 ½ blocks and a kill.  Natalia Smiech (Sleepy Hollow/Dundee-Crown H.S.) led Harper again with 5 digs. Brianna Spetka (Elk Grove/Conant H.S.) added 4 digs.  Alyssa Rodd was 6-6 serving with 2 aces, and also had 4 digs for a match-high 18 digs.
 

Harper's won-lost record now sits at 3-7. The last time Harper stated out with a losing record of that magnitude was just recently at 2-7 back in 2019. But that 2019 team turned the season around; finished 26-22, won the region and went on to a 6^th place finish at the NJCAA National Tournament.  Harper always starts the season with a tough schedule as kind of a wake up call, and a blueprint to determine what areas need more attention than others to be improved.

After the weekend we most likely will see College of DuPage who is 11-0, and sitting at the top of polls after Monday 8/29, and Madison and Joliet are also very strong teams.  As usual, the Region 4 is a very very strong and deep region.  We also learned that Minnesota Region 13 is ALSO strong with Rochester (#6), Minnesota State (#2), St. Cloud Tech and now Century College and Central Lakes (#3) all vying for 2 spots at Nationals.