No. 11 College of DuPage defeated Joliet Junior College for the second time in eight days, advancing to the Region 4 title match with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night at PEC Arena.
 
The Chaparrals, now 22-15 overall, take on unranked and region top-seed Harper (22-17) for the title and the right to compete in the Great Lakes District title.
 
Wednesday's match begins at 6 p.m.
 
"I never felt comfortable at any point tonight,'' said head coach Tolis Koskinaris in COD's tight 25-17, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17 victory. "We had different people stepping up and our defense played very well.''
 
Sophomore OH Amanda Leibrock finished with 18.5 points with a team-high 18 kills and teammate Grace Beacom contributed 12 kills and hit .333 (12/3/27).
 
"Grace hit critical and timely kills all night long,'' Koskinaris said.
 
Sophomore Cyd Martinez led in aces (five) and digs (27). Melissa Alvarez and Jamie Volz each had two aces and Volz led in block assists with three. Josephine Becker and Mikayla Robinson each had two block assists.
 
COD took a 1-0 lead, thanks to a 6-0 run early. Down 8-7, the Chaps earned their run and went on to a .258 attack percentage (11-3-31), the best of the four-set match.
 
A back-and-forth second set that saw 12 ties turned COD's way late. Joliet held set-point at 24-23, but the Chaps rallied three successive points and grabbed a 2-0 lead.
 
In the third, Joliet built a 21-13 lead only to have the host Chaps rally. COD scored six straight points and closed to within two of the lead (21-19).  COD closed in on Joliet, trailing 24-23 before taking the loss.
 
In the fourth, the Chaps took the lead for good at 8-7, built their largest lead of the set to eight on five separate occasions to advance to Wednesday's Region 4 title match.
 
Volz had 37 of COD's 42 assists.
 
The Chaps defeated Harper twice in their three meetings this season. Both victories were at home, and the Hawks defeated COD 3-0 on Oct. 5 in Palatine.
 
The winner then advances and plays host for Saturday's match against the Region 12 champion in the Great Lakes District title match. Saturday's winner moves on to the NJCAA Division III National Championship, Nov. 9-11 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.