{"id":7251,"date":"2025-02-16T03:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T03:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7251"},"modified":"2025-02-16T03:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T03:27:11","slug":"2024-bcr-volleyball-player-of-the-year-senior-captain-ellie-harp-is-the-glue-for-princeton-shaw-local-news-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7251","title":{"rendered":"2024 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year: Senior captain Ellie Harp is the \u2018glue\u2019 for Princeton – Shaw Local News Network"},"content":{"rendered":"


Princeton senior Ellie Harp is the 2024 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year. She was an unanimous Three Rivers East All-Conference selection. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
Ellie Harp has a cool and calm demeanor on the volleyball court.
And her Princeton teammates feed off it.
\u201cI did my best to stay calm on the court,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like the girls on the team did well when I was calm because they felt my calmness. It spreads throughout the team. That\u2019s how I try to put it off to others.\u201d
Behind their captain\u2019s leadership, the Princeton Tigresses<\/a> came on strong at the end of the season, winning nine of their last 10 regular-season matches with two set points in a regional semifinal match against an eventual state finalist.
Harp, a senior outside hitter, led the Tigresses with 156 kills (2.1 per set) and led all-area players in serving with 247 points (3.3) to go with 32 aces. She was unanimously named to the Three Rivers East All-Conference team.
For all of her accomplishments, Harp is the 2024 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year.
\u201cIt was definitely my most fun I\u2019ve had team-wise,\u201d Harp said. \u201cWe all bonded really well and played well together. We all enjoy each other. It was definitely really fun to end on with this team with my last season.
\u201cI think everyone started to just know what everybody\u2019s strengths were by the end of the season and that\u2019s when we started playing well. We definitely found our strengths as a team and we started playing extremely well and we ended on a very high note.\u201d
\u201cShe was the glue that held our team together.\u201d
Harp was like a coach\u2019s dream athlete for PHS coach Andy Puck.
\u201cEllie was a two-year captain and three-year varsity athlete. Ellie was the perfect athlete to coach,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was the glue that held our team together. When asked a lot of her, she always rose to the occasion while putting team first and leading by example.\u201d
Harp enjoyed playing all-around.
\u201cWhen you have to rotate out, I\u2019d lose momentum than being able to stay in I felt like I was always in the game,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing I felt like I struggle with if I got pulled out.\u201d
Harp was especially proud of her serve receive this season.
\u201cI served well and my serve receive was very consistent. That was one of my most ways I contributed to the team,\u201d she said.
Whether she gets a bigger thrill making the big kill at the net or making a key dig, depends on the game.
\u201cIf we need a kill to sideout, it\u2019s always fun to get the final kill. But then If you\u2019re playing a really good team that\u2019s hitting hard and getting that dig, that fills so good,\u201d she said.
Ellie Harp led the Tigresses with 156 kills (2.1 per set) and led all-area players in serving with 247 points (3.3) to go with 32 aces. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
What Harp likes best about volleyball is the team work involved in every play.
\u201cLike coach Puck always says, it starts with the pass,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s why I focus on my serve receive so I can give my setter a good pass so she can set to one of our hitters, especially when i was in the back row.\u201d
The Tigresses went down fighting at the end, falling to El Paso-Gridley 27-25, 25-21 after holding a 24-22 lead in the first set and a six-point lead in the second. To see the Titans advance to the state finals helps take the sting out of their season-ending loss, if not bring a case of the what-ifs.
\u201cIt always stinks losing, but seeing that that team made it that far …. I could have told you that honestly (they would),\u201d Harp said. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t played a team like that. It is nice to think that we did lose to them, but they\u2019re in the final 4. Gives you a little satisfaction.
\u201cI always think, \u2018What if we would have pulled out that win?\u2019 We were playing so well, we could have beat anyone. I think if we would have beat them we could have gone really far.\u201d
Harp has taken her last competitive serve and swing at the net. She plans to major in biology and go to PA school.
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely sad I won\u2019t be able to play competitive volleyball again like I have, especially since I was young and being around club,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s sad, but everything has to end at some time.\u201d
But it sure was a fun ride.
Princeton’s Ellie Harp spikes the ball past El Paso-Gridley’s Eliza Meiss in the Class 2A Regional Semifinals in October at Fieldcrest High School. <\/span>(Scott Anderson)
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Princeton senior Ellie Harp is the 2024 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year. She was an unanimous Three Rivers East All-Conference selection. (Mike Vaughn)Ellie Harp has a cool and calm demeanor on the volleyball court.And her Princeton teammates feed off it.\u201cI did my best to stay calm on the court,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like the girls on the team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t