Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- The No. 16 seeded Harford Fighting Owls won its first national tournament game in program history yesterday, beating No. 17 seed Milwaukee Area Tech 3-0 in its opening match of the
NJCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championships at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.
Milwaukee came into the match on an 11-game winning streak and had lost just 7 sets in 40 games entering the tournament.
Laura Piva (
Trecate,
Novara, Italy) led Harford with game-high 21 kills (.346).
Karen Jimenez (Mexico City, Mexico) added 10 kills and 11 digs.
Morgan Barnett (Spring Hill, Fla.) added 31 assists and nine digs and
Clara Pauni (West Jordan, Utah) had a game-high 17 digs.
The match began as a quintessential 16-17 contest, with a lot of back and forth play and multiple ties.
After tying the first set at 14, the Stormers called a timeout. The Fighting Owls would go on an 11-4 after the break to win the first set 25-18.
Piva was a hitting machine in the first, collecting nine of her kills in the opening frame.
The Fighting Owls jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set and led by as much as 13-3.
Milwaukee would go on a 13-4 run and get as close as 17-16, but Harford closed the set with an 8-3 run of its own to take a 2-0 lead.
In the third set, Harford trailed for the first time, at 5-4, since starting the game 1-0 and played from behind a total of 12 points in the frame.
But the Stormers could not hold serve, despite coming in ranked No. 3 in the country in service aces.
Harford would edge Milwaukee 8-5 in service aces for the game.
The Fighting Owls took a 19-18 lead after a
Piva block and never looked back, completing the sweep with a 25-23 third set win.
Harford's reward for its first victory at nationals was a nightcap against No. 1 seed Cowley County.
Cowley came in 36-0 and had lost just four sets all season.
Unfortunately for the Fighting Owls that trend continued last night, as the Tigers won in straight sets.
Harford now moves into the consolation bracket and takes on Mott Community College today at 10 a.m.
