The Highland Community College-Illinois volleyball team put together a strong weekend at the South Suburban Tournament, going 3-1 across four matches on Sept. 12-13.
Highland opened the tournament with a thrilling five-set victory over the College of Lake County, 3-2, 25-21, 16-25, 13-25, 25-20, 15-10. After dropping the second and third sets, the Cougars rallied to win the final two sets and complete the comeback. Cailyn Lane led Highland with 16 kills, while Olivia Klinefelter added 14 and Emily Quine finished with eight. Lane also recorded 16 digs, while Mia Diffenderfer led the Cougars with 29 digs.
Highland continued its strong start by defeating Marian-Ancilla College 3-1, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21. The Cougars bounced back after dropping the second set, winning the third and fourth sets to close out the match. Klinefelter recorded 13 kills, while Lane added 11 and Jocelyn Hall had nine. Finley Banks contributed seven kills, and Mia Diffenderfer once again led the defensive effort with 36 digs.
The Cougars then faced South Suburban College on Sunday and fell 3-1, 25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 25-23. Highland battled throughout the match and dominated the third set, but South Suburban answered by taking the fourth set to end the Cougars' winning streak. Emily Quine had a standout performance with 18 kills while hitting .485. Lane added nine kills, and Finley Banks had seven. Quine also recorded 10 digs, while Diffenderfer led Highland with 21 digs.
Highland closed the tournament on a high note with a dominant 3-0 sweep of Spoon River College, winning 25-17, 25-20, 25-20. Olivia Klinefelter led the Cougars with 13 kills, while Emily Quine added nine and Finley Banks finished with four. Lana Walker directed the offense with 30 assists, and Emily Broshous led the defense with 14 digs.
Across the four matches, Highland finished 3-1, highlighted by two sweeps and a five-set comeback victory. The Cougars recorded 185 kills and 168 digs during the tournament, with several players making significant contributions on both sides of the net.
The strong weekend improved Highland's season record to 6-10.
