An underdog seeding meant nothing for College of DuPage in Thursday's opening round of the NJCAA Division III women's volleyball championship.
 
Behind the efforts of sophomores Jillian Ross and Josephine Becker, and stellar serve-receive play, the 11^th-seed Chaps ripped past No. 6 Butler (Pa.) County Community College 3-1in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 
The Chaps grabbed the lead from the beginning, en route to a 25-13, 17-25, 25-19, 25-14 victory over the Pioneers (22-2) in the opener.

In Friday's quarterfinals, the Chaps kept the good times rolling, earning a 3-0 win (25-17, 25-19, 25-12) victory over Finger Lakes (N.Y.) Community College. COD hit .298 for the victory, hitting 34 kills, just nine errors in 84 attacks. They were never threatened and hit an improbable .550 (12-1-20) in the final set.
 
COD (23-14 overall) now advances to the semifinals for the second time in three years. The Chaps face No. 2-seed Minnesota West with first serve at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Finger Lakes dropped to 29-3 overall, with two of its losses against COD. The Chaps defeated the Lakers 3-2 in the Opening Weekend tourney in Rockford in late August.
 
No. 11 COD 3, No. 6 Butler County 1
NJCAA photo gallery
Ross led in kills with 12 and hit .250 (12 K/ 5E / 28 TA) and All-Region sophomore Josephine Becker followed with 11 (11 K / 5 E / 34 TA), and COD held a decisive edge on serve-receive with 16 aces with just four receiving errors for the four-set victory
 
COD hit .134 for the match (49 K / 26 E / 172 TA) and set the tone from the beginning for the victory.
 
COD earned the opener, thanks to seven aces for the set without a service error and rode it out in style by scoring the final eight points after leading 17-13.
 
Butler, which entered the tourney playing in just one five-set match for the season and extended to four sets just six times, cut loose from the Chaps with a 5-0 run after the set was tied at 12-12.
 
In the third, back-and-forth play culminated at 12-12. Consecutive kills from Becker gave COD the two-point lead and the Chaps never trailed again.
 
 At 21-19 COD, the Chaps withstood a significant point rally capped by a kill from Skylar Huffman. The Chaps then scored on a block assist from Becker and Alexandra Hornbogen, a kill from Becker and the set decider on a kill from Hornbogen and the Chaps led 2-1.
 
Hoffman contributed nine kills. Hornbogen followed with eight.
 
In the fourth, the Chaps made sure the set finished at four, earning an 8-0 run after the set was tied at 7-7. During the run, COD's Christina Savaglio drilled three kills and finished with eight.
 
Setter Ava Diaz dealt 37 assists.
 
At the serve, Jayde Grant led with five, Diaz four, Huffman and Francesca Brandonisio each with two.
 
On defense, Brandonisio led in digs with 25, Huffman 13, Rory Geroux 12, and Diaz 10.
 
Becker had four block assists and Huffman and Hornbogen each had two.

No. 11 COD 3, No. 3 Finger Lakes 0
NJCAA photo gallery
Becker took completely over in the quarterfinal victory, leading the way with 11 kills and hitting .391. Savaglio followed with eight kills and hit .438.

Serve-receive played a pivotal role again, with COD ripping through 10 aces. Geroux led with four and Brandonisio added three.

Finger Lakes was held to just .041 on the attack with 23 kills and 19 errors. Its cause also was hampered with 11 service errors in the 72-minute match.

Coach Tolis Koskinaris on the day and the Minnesota State match-up
"Our attack percentages in both matches were higher than we've had in a while. We hit some nice shots and our defensive pursuit was on. We really were clicking on both facets.  We played a little slow in the early one, but I don't think it was due to the early match time. It was more about nervous jitters for both teams. We sure turned it around and got momentum in the third set against Butler. We definitely won the serve-and-receive game against Finger Lakes and our hitting was on point. We had great defensive pursuit with great ball hawking."
 
About Minnesota West
"Minnesota West is really good and got us early in the season with a decisive win at our place. They'll have the mental edge tonight by earning that win. We need to see how we can set the tone early and get after it."
 
NOTE: After today's matches, COD is now 8-1 in its last nine matches at the NJCAA championship. The Chaps were 3-0 after winning the 2022 title, 3-1 in 2023 and now 2-0 in 2024.