Harper defeats Rock Valley
With faint hopes alive to win the North Central Community College Conference title, the Harper College (22-7, 7-2) women’s volleyball team welcomed No. 7-ranked Rock Valley College (18-12, 6-1) to the Sports and Wellness Center on Tuesday night in Palatine.
With freshman middle hitter Clara Moravec (Jacobs) possibly out for the season due to injury, the Hawks were forced to run their offense through other options. Sophomore Lauren LaMasse (Hoffman Estates) and Sarah House (Crystal Lake South) answered the call in a 25-20, 15-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory.
House was set 55 times from both the back row and at the net en route to 14 kills. LaMasse finished with 9 kills — including five straight in the final set.
With the Eagles’ defense struggling after they’d taken a 3-1 lead, Harper’s Alyssa Cazzato (Bartlett) looked for LaMasse when a big point was needed to take the first set.
With the way she ran the offense, Harper coach Bob Vilsoet compared Cazzato to scrambling Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Cazzato finished with 38 assists.
“The cross-court shot was open,” Cazzato said of LaMasse’s shot selection.
The second set was all Rock Valley as it was the Hawks who were making the defensive miscues. Eagles second-year coach Abby Jenkins made a defensive change that made it difficult for LaMasse to find the same holes in the Eagle block.
“We decided to have our middles step over and cheat that way on the block,” Jenkins said of neutralizing LaMasse in the second set.
RVC forced the Hawks to play longer than they’d have liked. Rock Valley took its largest lead of the night at 24-14.
The Eagles took a 4-3 lead in set three, which was reminiscent of a flyweight boxing match with both teams connecting on scoring punches at each turn.
With the score 18-15 in favor of the Hawks, the Eagles were forced to take their first timeout of the set. The Hawks scored 5 of the next 10 points to lead 23-20.
Harper rushed out to a quick 6-0 lead in the final set before the Eagles went ahead 12-11. In crunch time, the Eagles tied the set at 22-22 before Harper scored the last 3 points.