After a tough weekend in the Upper Peninsula, the Hillsdale College volleyball team is looking to make a statement in its last weekend of GLIAC play. The Chargers dropped two matches during their five-day road trip this weekend, falling to Northern Michigan University 3-0 on Friday and Michigan Tech 3-1 on Saturday.
The losing weekend drops Hillsdale to 15-11 overall, and 7-8 in the GLIAC. Entering their last weekend of the regular season, the Chargers are No. 10 in the conference. Only the top eight teams will go on to compete in the 2016 GLIAC Tournament, so the Chargers will likely need to put away both Grand Valley State University and Ferris State this weekend to earn a spot.
Sophomore setter Taylor Bennett said that the weekend’s losses were disappointing but also motivational.
“It has been cool to see the attitude and determination that has come from those losses. I feel like we’ve all come to practice this week refocused and ready to work hard and get better,” Bennett said.
Head coach Chris Gravel said the team has lacked consistency, leading to a late-season slump. This weekend was no exception: on Friday, the Wildcats outperformed the Chargers, putting up a .248 hitting percentage compared to Hillsdale’s .138 percentage.
The Wildcats jumped to a couple strong leads, and although Hillsdale fought for late-game comebacks, the Chargers were unable to even the score. The Chargers committed five serving errors, five serve-receive errors, and six ball-handling errors — all of which contributed to the sweep.
“I wouldn’t say we didn’t show up, we just didn’t perform,” Gravel said. “It looked like we were trying almost too hard at times, and nobody had control of their actions, for the most part.”
The unfortunate theme carried into Saturday’s match, too, Gravel said. The Chargers were outhit again when they faced the Michigan Tech Huskies — .277 to .176. The Huskies were especially dominant in sets one and two, overpowering the Chargers 25-13 and 25-16. Hillsdale fought back in set three, pulling out a 25-22 win, but the Huskies came back to end the match with a 25-21 decision in set four.
Senior middle hitter Erin Holsinger led her team’s offense this weekend, Gravel said, as she was one of Hillsdale’s only solid contributors. Sophomores Kara Vyletel and Paige VanderWall currently lead the Chargers in kills, but Gravel said both hitters have struggled with consistency.
“It’s just a matter of them being able to create better routines in their heads which is a mental toughness issue,” Gravel said.
Still, Vyletel put up 26 kills this weekend.
Looking back, Gravel said a lack of mental toughness has plagued the young squad this season. Though the Chargers got off to a 12-2 start, Gravel said they never learned how to win consistently.
“Just because you’re winning doesn’t mean you’ve learned how to win consistently and often. In order to do that you need to learn from your mistakes, and I believe that’s what we’re slow at doing right now, and that’s usually a characteristic of a young team.”
But the Chargers are looking forward now, and Holsinger said she wants her team to get back to work and go out on top this weekend against Grand Valley and Ferris.
“We have one guaranteed work week left to go all out, put in every hour, and really be disciplined with every contact that we have to get better,” Holsinger said. “We want to fight until the end because we have no other choice.
Because the winless weekend dropped the Chargers to No. 10 in the conference, their post-season fate depends on two wins this weekend. Though the Chargers defeated Grand Valley at home earlier this season, playing on the road might breed a different outcome. Ferris State — who the Chargers will matchup against on Saturday — are currently 14-1 in the conference.
“It’ll be tough,” Gravel said. “If we win two it does put us in a good position, because we’ve lost some of our head-to-head matchups, but Grand Valley is one of the teams that we would be tied with, and that would give us two wins over them.
Holsinger said she wants to end her final season at Hillsdale — and Hillsdale’s last season in the GLIAC — with a bang.
“It would be huge to make a statement even though our season hasn’t been the greatest and things haven’t always worked out well,” Holsinger said. “We want to leave the last games of the season and say, ‘We are Hillsdale. We have always been a threat. We’re young, but watch out.’”