On Tuesday night, the Chargers were defeated at home by the defending conference champion, Northwood University.
Hillsdale College had a slow first set, allowing Northwood to make a 13-point run, and losing the set 7-25.
In the next set, the Chargers did not allow Northwood to score points as easily. Each team had scored 15 points before Northwood started to take the lead. The score remained close until Hillsdale eventually lost the set 23-25.
The Chargers lost the third set almost just as narrowly, 21-25.
Going into Tuesday’s game, Hillsdale had come off of a successful weekend, defeating Saginaw Valley State University on Friday and Lake Superior State University on Saturday.
Hillsdale started the match against Saginaw Valley by losing the first two sets 23-25 and 20-25.
“We were under-activated in the first two games,” redshirt freshman Sam Siddall said.
After the six-minute break between the second and third sets, the Chargers came back and won the last three sets, 25-13, 25-18, 15-11, in order to win the match
“We came together, and the coaches talked to us about how badly we needed to win this game and wanted to win,” Siddall said. “We came out guns blazing.”
Head coach Chris Gravel changed the lineup going into the third set, putting in a new libero, outside hitter, and back row. Junior Alexis Waugh said the “fresh legs on the court” helped change the momentum.
“The changes gave them something else to think about besides just the match,” Gravel said. He explained that this helped take the pressure off of the team, so they were less focused on the need to win every set in order to win the match.
Senior Caitlin Kopmeyer had 20 digs, 12 kills, five block assists, and no errors.
Sophomore Marissa Owen had 35 sets and 12 digs.
Siddall was put into the game in the fourth set, and had eight kills, six of them in the fourth set.
“Watching my teammates kill it in the third game,” Siddall said, “I really wanted to go in and help my team to a win.”
On Saturday, Hillsdale swept Lake Superior 25-17, 25-23, 25-21.
“Our opponent really came to play,” Gravel said.
Waugh said Lake Superior usually upsets one big team a year, and had yet to do that this season, meaning the Chargers had to bring their game.
Freshmen Briana Herr and Erin Holsinger started Saturday’s game and played their best games to date.
Herr had eight kills, eight blocks, and a .500 hitting percentage.
Holsinger had 9 kills, and a .750 hitting percentage.
“They played really well,” Waugh said, “and I hope they remember this as the defining moment of their freshman year.”
Hillsdale has four home games left. This weekend, they play Northern Michigan University at 7 p.m. on Friday, and Michigan Technological University at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“It’s really important that we win these two matches pretty convincingly,” Waugh said.
Hillsdale is 9-5 in the conference, and 14-11 overall.
“We’re kind of the underdogs right now,” Waugh said. “We will use that to our advantage.”
