Harper makes big splash in Dells
Fun is the name of the game when it comes to trips to Wisconsin Dells.
Among the tourist attractions the Harper College women's volleyball team enjoyed there last weekend was one of its renowned water parks.
But the fun extended to the games on the court in a tournament that saw the Hawks cement themselves as an NJCAA Division III national title contender.
Harper finished second with a three-game loss to Division II Kalamazoo (Mich.).
And the Hawks jumped four spots to No. 3 in the latest national poll with three-game wins over last year's national champion (Central Lakes, Minn.) and runner-up (Ridgewater, Minn.).
"We played like an orchestra," Harper coach Bob Vilsoet said of the smooth all-around play in the tourney. "We were at a high level of consistency, which is what we wanted, and it took a top Division II team to beat us.
"I can't say enough how this weekend accomplished the things we wanted to accomplish."
Harper (34-13) continued to accomplish big things as it rallied to beat College of DuPage 19-25, 25-23, 25-11, 26-24 Thursday to share the N4C title with Rock Valley. Anie Fitzpatrick's career-high 21 kills, Christy Lima's 12 kills and 8 digs and Nikki Maize's 48 assists helped the Hawks to their fourth straight outright or shared conference title.
Maize's play in the Wisconsin Dells tourney and a win over Rock Valley earned her NJCAA player of the week honors.
"It's harder to be that than an All-American," Vilsoet said. "That's a tremendous accomplishment."
As were Diane Janik's 33 digs in a 5-game win over Macomb (Mich.) and Megan Maize's 28 digs in the 3-game loss to Kalamazoo. The all-around play of Torrie Raio (Hoffman Estates) in the middle quietly made a difference.
"She's such a good defensive player," Vilsoet said. "The other teams don't know she's one of the best passers in the world."
Harper gets another tough test this weekend at the Wisconsin-Whitewater tournament against second-ranked Milwaukee Area Technical College. Vilsoet would love to see some similarities to what happened in Wisconsin Dells.
"They were well-behaved, they were doing their homework," Vilsoet marveled. "It's the kind of tournament we want to be back at next year. This tournament toughened us up."
Gearing up for the postseason: Harper (7-1, 6-1) jumped to ninth in this week's NJCAA/JCFootball.com national poll and has the top seed and home field advantage in the Region IV playoffs. Saturday's 1 p.m. Midwest Football Conference finale in Palatine with Rock Valley (3-5, 2-5) could also be a preview of a postseason opener.
Rock Valley and Joliet could end up as the No. 4 seed when the playoffs begin Nov. 1.
Quarterback Garrett Barnas (1,883 yards, 19 touchdowns) comes off a 6-touchdown performance in last Saturday's wild 47-43 win at Ellsworth (Iowa). John Baldwin leads the receiving corps with 34 catches for 624 yards and 7 TDs and defensive end Kyle Jenkins has 12 sacks.
Into the final stretch: The men's cross country team led by Chris Hoffman takes a No. 7 national ranking for first-year coach Paul Paynter into Saturday's NJCAA regional meet at Sauk Valley. Irene Villadares leads the way for the Harper women.
Tough ending: The women's soccer team's late-season run came to an end with a 5-1 loss to eighth-ranked COD in an NJCAA Division III regional semifinal. But the future looks bright for the Hawks (4-7-1) with everyone eligible to return next season.