Women's volleyball: Harper tops Madison for N4C crown

With both the North Central Community College conference regular season championship as well as the top seed in next week's NJCAA Region IV women's volleyball tournament on the line, Harper met the challenge.

On Thursday, the nation's two top-ranked teams took to the tartan surface in Harper's Sports and Wellness Center. And the host Hawks came away with a 3-1 victory over No. 2-ranked Madison Area Technical College.

Harper coach Bob Vilsoet saw his team improve to 36-1 overall and complete a 12-0 run in the N4C. He appreciated the challenge brought by both Madison (25-3, 10-2) and other foes in the league.

"The tougest in the country to win at," Vilsoet said.

One person who understood the situation was Sara Udoni (Palatine): "Tonight was a test for us."

Sophomore setter Katelyn Sommers (Buffalo Grove) concurred, saying "there was unsaid pressure to win."

The reason for Harper's sixth N4C title in the last 15 season, Sommers said, was clear.

"We worked our butts off to get to this place," she said.

In the first set, Harper got big contributions from Kathryn Novy and Ariana Chelini, and Emily Huprich and Kayla Mayer served up aces.

Chelini came up with a big block to give Harper a 10-5 lead. Madison scored 7 of the final 12 points but still fell 25-21.

In the second set, Ellie Burzlaff (2 kills), Udoni and Sommers helped Harper out to a 6-3 lead, but but Madison slowly got back into and finally took the lead 23-22 before finishing it off with a 25-22 win.

Harper captured the third set 25-19 before facing adversity in the fourth. Stuck for quite a while at 20 points, Vilsoet stayed patient with his group and was rewarded with a 25-22 decision.

With a pair of matches left to play before next week's Region IV tournament, Udoni is confident in hear team's ability to win.

"We have the talent," she said.