Region 4 quartet reps at NJCAA tournaments, DuPage places 5th

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - Four teams represented Region 4 over the course of two separate NJCAA national tournaments inside Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena. At the NJCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championships, defending champion College of DuPage and Harper College enjoyed successful runs through their respective consolation brackets, while Rock Valley College and Sauk Valley Community College were each done after two matches at the NJCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championships.

In First Round play in the Division III tournament, the #11-seeded Chaparrals picked up where they left off after winning the 2022 national title with a 3-0 sweep over #6-seed Finger Lakes Community College, while #8-seed Harper College lost 3-1 to #9 Delta College to fall into the ninth place consolation bracket. The College of DuPage met its match in the quarterfinals, falling 3-0 to #3-seed Century College to move into the fifth place consolation bracket. From that point on, both the Hawks and Chaps won every match. DuPage won 3-0 over #10-seed Dallas College-Brookhaven and beat #9-seed Delta College in four (3-1) to claim fifth place and finish 25-17 on the season. Harper picked up three straight sweeps over #16-seed Dutchess Community College (3-0), #5-seed Fulton-Montgomery Community College (3-0), and #7-seed Caldwell Technical College (3-0) to place ninth place and cap their year with a 27-18 record. Sophomore middle hitter Taylor Knuth of Harper College and sophomore libero/defensive specialist Cyd Martinez were both named to the 2023 NJCAA All-Tournament Team.

The following week proved to be a stiffer test for both #16-seed Rock Valley College and #20-seed Sauk Valley Community College. The Golden Eagles dropped a 3-1 First Round match to #17-seed North Dakota State College of Science, while the Skyhawks were swept 3-0 at the hands of #13-seed Gulf Coast State College. In the consolation bracket, SVCC was taken down 3-0 by #14 Wallace State Community College to finish 24-17 on the year, and RVC fell 3-0 to #18 Walters State Community College to close out a 27-13 campaign.