The Madison College volleyball team lost, 3-1, to Harper College on Oct. 20, in what was essentially a conference championship game. The loss stopped the WolfPack’s six game winning streak, the last three of which had been clean sweeps.

Coach Toby Parker paced the sidelines pensively during the pregame warmups as the top two teams in the country squared off in the unfriendly confines of the Hawks home floor. Despite the cool autumn air outside it was sweltering inside as fans packed the stands.

When the two teams met in September Douglas Redsten Gymnasium had been full of rowdy fans celebrating family night. The crowd in Palatine returned the favor with members of the Harper College baseball team providing much of the noise.

Harper jumped out to a quick lead early in the first set. Parker could be heard telling the team to settle down but it was to no avail. The unforced errors and jitters that derailed the WolfPack a month ago were alive and well early in the match as Harper took a commanding 14-6 first set lead.

Parker seemed at a loss to explain the early jitters that have plagued the WolfPack against Harper.

“I’m not concerned as much as I am confused,” Parker said about the early set problems. “The upside is, our athletes understand that rally scoring does not allow for slow starts or giving up more than one or two point runs of any sort during the course of a set.”

Just as they did in September, however, the WolfPack showed grit and dug down deep to cut the lead to 16-13 in the middle of the first set. From there it was neck and neck. Yet no matter how close the WolfPack came, Harper always seemed to have an answer and won the first set 25-22.

The quality of play for the WolfPack picked up in the second set as both teams showed why they were worthy of such lofty national rankings.

In the best-played set of the series, the WolfPack matched Harper point for point and pulled out a victory to avoid a sweep.

It was as close to victory as the WolfPack could get. Harper went on a big run in the third set before ultimately dispatching Madison College in the fourth, 25-22, for a 3-1 match win.

In its final match of the regular season, the WolfPack continued to struggle, dropping a match on the road against McHenry, a nationally ranked Division 2 school.