Volleyball splits homestand

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After two weeks on the road, the Hillsdale College women’s volleyball team played their opening GLIAC games at home.

The Chargers faced Grand Valley State University in their GLIAC opener on Friday, and on Saturday, they faced Ferris State and received their first conference loss at home in three years.

The team won 3–1 against GVSU.

After dropping the third set in which the Chargers made a run from behind, the team won the fourth set 25–18 and totaled 16 kills. Coach Chris Gravel said the girls on the team have never lost to Grand Valley and do not plan to this season.

“We did not have our sense of urgency at the beginning of the third set,” Gravel said. “They gained that back at the start of the fourth set.”

Junior Caitlyn Kopmeyer delivered the match – winning kill in the fourth set. Kopmeyer has 91 kills to date, the most on the team.

Throughout the game sophomore Alexis Waugh had 19 assists and two service aces. Junior Sydney Lenhart led the team with 29 assists.

Lenhart leads the Chargers in assists with 193 this season.

“Friday was a huge confidence-booster, especially after playing many ranked opponents,” Lenhart said. “We should have taken that confidence into Saturday and built upon it.”

Saturday, the Chargers fell to the nationally-ranked Bulldogs (19).

“[The girls] did some things better than they did on Saturday,” Gravel said. “They lacked the consistency between the two games of working to make each look better.”

During the third set, senior Lauren Grover rallied the team with a pair of blocks. Also, Junior Bekah Draves and freshman Jenalle Beaman had eight digs each against the Bulldogs. By the end of the third set, Lenhart had 17 assists and sophomore Bailey Linder had 14 digs. The Chargers lost the last set 25 – 12.

“We just became flat,” Beaman said. “We did not have synergy with each other and needed to let our anger out on the other team.”

Lenhart said the team needs to treat the teams with respect and not mess around.

“We need to not expect the other team to ease up,” Lenhart said.

As a new member of the north division, the Chargers will have the chance to play both Ferris State and GVSU again. Lenhart said she hopes the team will be able to beat Ferris State the second time around.

This coming weekend the Chargers will be playing at home Friday against Ohio Dominican University and Saturday against Tiffin. The team will also have a home game Tuesday against Northwood University.