The Hillsdale College women’s volleyball team is off to a positive start after earning a 2-1 record in their first tournament last weekend. On Friday, the Chargers enjoyed their first 2-0 start since 2009 after taking down Gannon University 3-0 and Clarion University 3-1. But on Saturday, Hillsdale suffered a loss to North Alabama 3-1.
Several Charger women offered stellar performances in the opening weekend. Freshman outside hitter Kara Vyletel smacked down 32 kills in the first three matches of her career, the most by any Hillsdale freshman in the rally-score era (2001-present).
“I wasn’t expecting to play all the way around or every single match, so it was a good surprise,” Vyletel said. “I was a little nervous, but I was more energized and excited.”
Senior middle hitter Emily Wolfert, who made a position change from outside hitter just last spring, also had a “consistent” weekend for the Chargers, according to head coach Chris Gravel.
“Emily played really well, especially because middle is one of the hardest positions to switch to because there’s so much you have to do and it’s so fast-paced, but she played really well in the middle,” senior co-captain and outside hitter Haylee Booms said.
Against Gannon, Wolfert led the Chargers with 10 kills and chalked up four of the team’s eight blocks. Senior co-captain Marissa Owen set up 15 assists for Hillsdale. Vyletel worked with her fellow freshman outside hitter Paige VanderWall to spike 15 combined kills in their debut match.
Vyletel didn’t cool down as she slammed 14 kills against the Clarion Eagles and led her team to its second victory. Junior middle hitter Erin Holsinger was not far behind with nine kills and dealt seven of the team’s 13 blocks. Freshman setter Taylor Bennett led the Chargers with 13 assists.
As her teammates played the first two matches of their season, sophomore defensive specialist Brittany Jandasek entered into surgery to repair her torn meniscus and is now facing a projected three-week long recovery period, according to Gravel. Jandasek’s absence gave senior defensive specialist Jenalle Beaman a new role on the court.
“Jenalle, knowing that she was going to have to be the primary ball control person, stepped up and filled that role,” Gravel said. “She did a really nice job.”
Beaman led the Chargers in digs in each match and had a total of 47 over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Chargers suffered a loss to North Alabama as the Lions filled the court with five Division I transfers. Booms and Gravel agreed that this game illuminated some of the things the Chargers will work to improve before their next competition.
“They had really good outside hitters but it wasn’t anything special, it’s probably something we will see all year,” Booms said. “At the end of game four we started adjusting to that and it made us realize that’s what we need to do earlier: see what they’re doing, see the shots they’re hitting, and notice it as we’re playing so we can make adjustments quicker.”
Gravel said that the team as a whole needs to work on bringing consistency to every match.
“Improving isn’t always about jumping higher or hitting harder, it’s about jumping high several times in a row, hitting that hard several times in a row,” Gravel said. “That’s really what we need to do. We know how to play the game, we know what we’re supposed to do, but we actually have to do that at a higher percentage.”
Gravel explained that in order to keep a strong mentality he likes his players to focus on the bigger picture.
“When we entered into this weekend I said, ‘we need to score 225 countable points,’” Gravel said. “We came up short on that—we scored most of them—but after the first match we had 75 down and 150 to go. I describe it that way so we don’t get too high or too low during a match. Yes, we can have a great play but we have 150 more points to score.”
The Chargers hope to use this mentality to grab four wins in this weekend’s tournament at the University of Findlay. Hillsdale will face Mercyhurst, Pitt-Johnstown, Ursuline, and Cedarville, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the G-MAC.
“These are all teams that are going to have winning records, so if we keep beating teams like that it will set us up nicely for the end,” Gravel said.
Booms said she wants and expects an undefeated weekend.
“In the last game we played, our coach said that we probably just gave them the bit of confidence they needed for the rest of their season,” Booms said. “That’s not what we want to do. We want to beat them and take them down a notch, so I’m hoping we go 4-0 and I’m pretty confident that we will.”
