Campus News

Unbeaten Harford ousts Lady Lakers

Fighting Owls take out GC in straight-set region quarterfinal

Aiyana Yoder (5) and Paola Chirino (8) celebrate a winning point as Garrett College sweeps Frederick Community College in last Tuesday's NJCAA Division II Region 20 women's volleyball play-in.

Rockville, MD – Just call it the (un)luck of the draw.

The eighth-seeded Garrett College women's volleyball team swept ninth-seeded Frederick Community College, 25-23, 25-20, and 25-14, last Tuesday to reach the NJCAA Division II Region 20 quarterfinals. The Lady Lakers' reward? A matchup against top-seeded Harford Community College, which entered play Saturday morning as one of three undefeated teams across all three NJCAA divisions.

"Even the other coaches from the conference were like, 'Yeah, you've got the tough side of the bracket," said GC head coach Brittany Jackson of drawing Harford, which notched three straight-set wins to claim the region crown. "Their ability to serve all around the court made it difficult for us. They also have great blocking and really strong hitters. They're a solid, low error team."

Harford (21-0) swept the Lady Lakers, 25-12, 25-10, and 25-11, at Montgomery College, as Lara Piva notched a match-high 13 kills and two blocked shots. Morgan Barnett added a match-high 26 assists for Harford, which went on to sweep the College of Southern Maryland and Hagerstown Community College to claim the region title.

Garrett's loss, however, did little to dull the luster of the Lady Lakers' comeback season. Garrett, 0-18 two years ago and 4-32 over the past two seasons, finished the 2024 campaign with a 12-9 record.

Garrett College's accomplishments this season were even more impressive when considering middle hitter Aiyana Yoder was the squad's only sophomore. The inexperienced Lady Lakers started slowly, with a 2-4 record a third of the way through the regular season, but GC won nine of its next 11 matches to lock up a regional playoff berth.

GC then wore down Frederick behind the hitting of Brenna L'Hommedieu (10 kills, three aces) and Yoder (nine kills), the playmaking of Karen Cuellar (16 assists, three aces, four digs), and the defense of Paola Chirino (10 digs).

"I knew I brought in a good group of kids, but they even shocked me with what they were able to accomplish this season," said Jackson.

The Frederick victory earned GC its quarterfinal shot against Harford, which came in ranked 21st in NJCAA Division II and fresh off a Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference championship. L'Hommedieu had three of Garrett's 12 match kills against Harford, while Taylor Burg led the squad nine assists and Chirino had a team-high eight digs.

While the Lady Lakers' 2024 campaign is complete, Jackson is already working to continue the program-building project.

"It started in July," Jackson said of the 2025 season's recruiting cycle. "When it comes to recruiting, you have to jump into it early."

Jackson's recruiting job may have gotten a little easier with a region quarterfinal on GC's resume and a dozen battle-tested freshmen potentially returning to help the Lady Lakers take the next step.