The Harper College volleyball team split its four matches at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Volleyball Invitational over the weekend. Each match in the invitational was a best-of-three sets match rather than the usual best-of-five sets format.
The Hawks (6-5, 1-1) began the day with a convincing straight sets victory over fellow N4C member Milwaukee Area Technical College (25-15, 25-8). Veronica Dabrowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Rolling Meadows) led the Hawks with seven kills and an incredible seven service aces. Morgan Peterson (Roselle, Ill./Conant ) led Harper with seven digs, while Valerie Bazemore (Houston, Tex./Keller) recorded 16 assists.
In the second match of the day, the Hawks fell in a close match to the University of Wisconsin-Osh Kosh JV squad (21-25, 22-25). Melina Villaber (Chicago, Ill./Taft) paced the Hawks with eight kills on 16-of-17 hitting. Lindsey Murphy (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Crystal Lake South) played an all-around solid game, going 14-of-14 serving with two aces while tallying nine digs and contributing 13 assists. Villaber and libero Kelly Spychala (Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove) each reached double figures in digs with 16 and 10, respectively.
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Harper fell in its third match of the day to a strong Waubonsee Community College team (20-25, 14-25). The Hawks totaled 46 digs in the match, led by Dabrowski's 15.
"Waubonsee will be ranked in D2 soon," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet.
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In the final match of the day, the Hawks pulled off a thrilling three-set victory over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater JV team (27-29, 27-25, 15-12). The match was back and forth, with overtime needed to decide the outcome of the first two games. Madison Rodriguez (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) had a team-high seven kills and three key blocks. Harper played stellar defense throughout the match and totaled 50 digs, led by Spychala's team-high 16 digs. Murphy directed the offense with 23 assists.
"This was a fun tournament and very worthwhile experience," Vilsoet said. "We improved greatly playing here today. As a coach, it is fun watching the individuals begin to turn into a team and the players improve right in front of my eyes."
