The Hillsdale College volleyball team has played two of its four tournaments of the spring season.
On March 23, the team went to Indianapolis for the first tournament.
Sophomore Emily Wolfert said the tournament gave them a chance to work on different lineups and combinations, and play a mix of GLIAC and GLVC teams.
On March 29, Hillsdale hosted a tournament.
“It’s been a while since we hosted a tournament, but I’ve done it enough times that the tournament will pretty much run itself,” head coach Chris Gravel said. “Every problem that could come up, I have already had, so I can avoid them.”
Wolfert said Hillsdale played Lewis University, the University of Findlay, and an alumnae team from Hillsdale.
“The best players this college has seen were put together,” Wolfert said. “They really challenged us, but it was fun to see them again.”
The team began training the first full week of this semester but started regular court practices a few days before spring break.
Gravel said he has been pushing the players hard in training and they have responded well.
“I love how strong we get, “ junior Marissa Owen said. “We jump higher and dig for balls we couldn’t get before.”
Owen said the spring tournaments are different than the regular season because they have a more relaxed environment.
Teams often break apart into two different teams to get more court time and experiment.
“It’s nice to take some of those risks you wouldn’t normally take,” redshirt junior Lindsay Kostrzewa said.
She said the spring season allows players to become more aggressive and try things out without the consequences that come from losing regular season games.
Gravel said the team didn’t like how the previous season ended. The loss of the first game of the GLIAC tournament has motivated the players to train harder.
“We won’t be a young team for the first time in a while,” Gravel said.
The spring season is a buildup for next season, Gravel said, and the Chargers are headed in the right direction.
“We take pride in every game,” Kostrzewa said. “We want to leave knowing that we played our best.”
