Title eludes Harper, but third-place chance remains

Harper College's hopes for a national women's volleyball championship ended Friday but a shot at the best season in program history remains alive.

Second-seeded Harper (44-15) lost its semifinal match to No. 3 Ridgewater (Minn.) 25-20, 25-16, 25-23 in the NJCAA Division III national tournament in Rochester, Minn.

The Hawks, who have finished fourth twice and fifth once since 2002, will play for third place at 1 p.m. today against Hibbing (Minn.).

"In 2002 and 2005 we didn't put enough effort into winning the third-place game," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet. "After the match we started talking about realizing we can have the best finish Harper ever has had.

"Hopefully the girls realize the importance of this."

Harper had little trouble beating Catawba Valley (S.C.) in its first match 25-11, 25-14, 25-16. Anie Fitzpatrick (15 kills) and Kamila Lokoma (11 kills in 14 attempts) led the attack, Nikki Maize had 39 assists and 13 digs, Torrie Raio had 10 digs and was 22-for-23 serving and Megan Maize had 14 digs.

"We were just on fire on offense," Vilsoet said.

But Ridgewater, last year's runner-up and champion in 2002 and 2006, made some defensive changes to avenge a 3-game loss to Harper a month ago.

"I think all the girls walked away saying they didn't play as well as they thought they should have played," Vilsoet said. "They all felt they left something on the court.

"They made some adjustments and they turned out to be good adjustments. We made more errors than usual but I believe they caused the errors."

Fitzpatrick, Lokoma and Christy Lima had 8 kills apiece. Nikki Maize had 29 assists and was 17-for-17 serving but Harper had no aces.

"They were a stronger defensive team and they wanted it more, even though we wanted it," Vilsoet said. "Ridgewater played at a higher level than we could match today."