At Rochester Community and Technical College Invitational - September 8 & 9, 2023
Harper traveled to Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minnesota. After a long  4 ½ hour bus ride plus stops across the Mississippi, in the first match, Harper defeated Iowa Lakes in 4 sets. Then lost the late match to North Iowa in a LONG 5-set match, which featured some typical Minnesota referee calls. On Saturday, Harper College lost in 4 sets to DII Ellsworth in a very very exciting 'heavyweight' match. Then, unfortunately, playing two matches in a row, an emotionally and physically drained Harper team lost in 5 sets to the rested host team.

DIII Harper College defeated DII Iowa Lakes 25-12, 25-22, 22-25, 25-9
Friday, Sept 8, 5:00 p.m. at Rochester Community and Technical College: Harper started off well in the first set with a 7-2 led, and extended the lead to 11-4, and 20-9 on the way to a 25-12 win. The second set was a much closer battle, there were ties at 3-3, 5-5, and 16-16. Harper took a 20-16 lead and inched closer to the win with leads at 22-18 and 23-20 before winning 25-22. In the third set, there were far more ties, at 3-3, 5-5, 6-6, 8-8 when Harper served up an ace and 9-9. At 9-12 Harper sailed a ball out of bounds off a block that wasn't called, and at 11-19, Harper made an illegal substitution. Harper tried hard to close the gap and almost did at 17-22, 20-22, and 22-23, but lost 22-25. In the 4th set, Harper took a 7-0 lead, and extended to 15-5, and 20-8 before winning 25-9. 

DIII Harper College lost to DII North Iowa 25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-13, 12-15
Friday, Sept 8, 7:00 p.m. at Rochester Community and Technical College: In the opening set against North Iowa, there were 10 tie scores on the way to 16-16. Then, on 3 Taylor Knuth aces, Harper took a 20-16 lead and won 25-17. In the second set, Harper fell behind 0-7, when Ava Belluomini made a highlight reel smash for a point. Then Harper's second point was another highlight reel smash from Knuth for Harper's second point… 2-11. Yikes. Harper did battle back to 15-21, 18-22 and 21-23, but lost 22-25. In the pivotal third set, with the sets tied, there were ties at 1-1, 11-11, 18-18, 19-19 and 20-20. North Iowa hit one out that was called in, and Harper was behind 20-22… Harper then fell 21-25. In the 4th sets, Harper led 4-0, 10-3, 15-5, 18-8 on the way to a 25-13 win. At this point, each team won 2 sets, off to a pivotal 5th set. This 5th set didn't disappoint…  Another instant classic. Harper fell behind 0-3, but caught up at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9. At 10-12, the ref invented a touch call to make it 10-13. Harper then struggled to a 12-15 loss.

DIII Harper College lost to DII Ellsworth 25-21, 22-25 21-25, 14-25
Saturday, Sept 9, noon at Rochester Community and Technical College: This was a heavyweight bout. The score was tied in the opening set 12-12 and 20-20. Harper closed the set with a 25-21 win. Harper continued to play well taking a 7-1 lead into the second set. But Ellsworth called time and immediately tied the score at 7-7, 8-8, and 10-10. Harper fell behind 18-21 and lost 22-25. The third set started out even at 5-5, but Ellsworth edged ahead and maintained the lead at 11-13, 13-17, 17-19, such that Harper lost 21-25. The last set started out even at 2-2.  Harper fell behind, but while trying to tie the score, missed a serve at 8-9, then missed another serve at 10-11.  Harper never leveled the set and trailed 11-18 on the way to a spirited match, but a 14-25 loss.

DIII Harper College lost to DIII #16 Rochester Community and Technical College 13-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-8, 9-15
Saturday, Sept 9, 2:00 p.m. at Rochester Community and Technical College: In the first set against Rochester, at Rochester, with Harper's favorite ref… Harper's mind, emotions and bodies were still on the previous match. Harper fell behind early at 0-6 and 7-17 on the way to a 13-25 loss. Harper came to play in the second set with their minds in it this time, and suddenly there was some resistance with ties at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 10-10 and 11-11. Finally, behind Cana Jones serves, Harper took a 17-11 lead and won 25-18. In the pivotal third set, after ties at 2-2, 3-3, 5-5, 6-6 and 8-8, Harper fell behind 9-15 and lost 21-25. In the 4th set, there were ties at 2-2 and 3-3, before Harper led 10-3 and 18-7 on the way to a 25-8 blowout win. This happened while Rochester caught their breath. In the final set, Harper fell behind 3-6 and 5-10, missed a serve and with just no energy left playing a 9th set in a row, Harper lost 9-15. 

 

RESET

So far, roughly half-way through the season, Harper is 8 wins and 11 losses for the year. This includes 1-1 against DI teams, 5-3 against DII teams including 3-0 versus Region IV DII teams, and just 2-7 against DIII teams. Six of those nine DIII matches were against ranked DIII teams.

Harper has now lost ALL 5 of their 5-set matches this year.

As of Sunday, 9/10/2023, Knuth is currently the nation's top hitter with 296 kills, Stacy Maimur is 5th with a mere mortal 143 kills. Setter Eden Suh is currently the top setter with 714 assists AND 3rd with 9.52 assists per set. Libero Kaylee Obrzut is 2nd with 281 digs. Harper leads the nation in kills, assists, digs… AND both hitting errors, probably by a lot, and serving errors. Oops.



Next week, Harper plays at DII South Suburban on Tuesday and DII Prairie State on Thursday.