Harper's Mason completes full-circle voyage

Who says you can't go home again?

Not Harper College volleyball star Alexandra Mason.

Mason has signed a national letter of intent to play volleyball at Chicago State University.

Mason played her freshman season for the Cougars before leaving the program to be with her boyfriend in Portland.

She eventually departed Portland and came to Mount Prospect to live with her father, Greg Sweigert.

Mason began attending classes at Harper in the spring of 2009. She sat out 2009 volleyball season, managing the softball team that year, because she was ineligible to play after her transfer.

When Mason finally hit the volleyball court for the Hawks, she captured numerous honors - including all-conference and all-region recognition - and she was named NJCAA Division III player of the week. She broke the Harper all-time kills record with 622, which led the NJCAA. She also led the NJCAA with 166 blocks.

Her Harper career culiminated when Mason was named an NJCAA Division III All-American.

Mason's recruiting experiences included some twists and turns.

She had received interest from Division I schools, including DePaul and Atlantic Sun Conference members Mercer and Florida Gulf Coast.

Florida Gulf Coast wanted Mason to join the program as a junior but not on a scholarship until her senior year.

Her opportunity at DePaul fell through when the Blue Demons fired coach Amy Hardison in December.

"I have to give credit to DePaul because that was the first school in the state school to contact me," Mason said.

Chicago State was the first program to offer her a full volleyball scholarship.

"It kind of showed up at the right time," Mason said of the Cougars' scholarship offer.

Shakeila Castile-Jones has taken over the reins at Chicago State after being an assistant coach last year when the Cougars went 0-26.

"Shak knows I can play any position," Mason said. "But they want me to play middle blocker."

The 6-foot-4 Mason will have two years of eligiblity remaining when she returns to the Cougars.

"She (Castile-Jones) was the one who pushed for me originally (out of Oregon Episcopal High School)," said Mason, who plans to major in mass communications with an emphasis in advertising and public relations. "At first I didn't really want to go back. It's a building program."