The Heartland volleyball team was off and running this weekend, as the Hawks traveled to Rockford's UW Health Sports Factory for the McHenry County College Invite. The Hawks finished the weekend 4-0 to begin the regular season, defeating Mott Community College and Kalamazoo Valley Community College on Friday before picking up victories over North Dakota State College of Science and St. Louis Community College on Saturday.
 
In game one of the weekend, Mott took a 25-21 set one victory before Heartland responded with three straight set wins (25-20, 25-20, 25-16). Olivia Pippin finished with 12 kills and 13 assists, while Julianne Kielion added 26 assists. Kennedy Conrad finished with 33 digs for the Hawks.
 
Heartland returned to action Friday afternoon, cruising to a sweep of Kalamazoo Valley. The Hawks won the opening set 25-15 before taking sets two and three 25-11 and 25-12. Kielion paced the assist category with 21. Pippin had 10 kills and eight assists, with Emma Harper contributing eight kills and 11 digs.
 
In Saturday morning's opening match against North Dakota State College of Science, the Hawks pulled away for a four-set win in a tightly-contest outing. Heartland picked-up a 28-26 opening set win before North Dakota State tied the match with a 26-24 set two victory. The Hawks would win set three 25-21 and set four 25-23 to take home the win. Harper paced the Hawks with 17 kills and 14 digs, with Conrad adding 22 digs. Pippin tossed-in 10 kills, 27 digs and eight assists.
 
The final match of the tournament saw Heartland battle St. Louis Community College, with the Hawks taking home a clean sweep (25-12, 25-12, 25-19) to move to 4-0 on the weekend. Georgi Patten finished with 11 kills, Conrad had 15 digs and Kielion once again led the assist category with 17.
 
The Hawks return to action at 6 pm Tuesday, as they welcome Illinois Wesleyan to the FRC for an exhibition match.