The Hillsdale College Chargers’ season has been defined by three-set sweeps and a rolling streak of victories, but last weekend, they suffered their first loss.
Before Hillsdale fell to Gannon University, they beat Ohio Dominican University with a solid victory (25-15, 25-22, 25-17), that would set the foundation for the Gannon match.
“ODU played a great defense, which forced us to up our game,” Gravel said.
The following day, the Chargers beat Gannon in the first set 25-15. They looked to sweep yet another opponent in three sets, but Gannon was quick to make adjustments and triumphed in the following three sets, with final scores of 22-25, 22-25, and 18-25.
“On the outside, it will probably affect our No. 1 ranking,” Gravel said. “We’re not very good at losing, so we don’t handle it well since we don’t do it often. But that’s probably a good thing because right now it feels like everything is wrong.”
The loss did affect their ranking, pushing them from No. 1 to No. 5 in the DII AVCA.
“I don’t know if it was a mix of fear and not wanting to lose instead actually wanting to win, but they just performed better than we did,” junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton said.
Though the team destroyed Gannon in the first set with tough serves and strong defense, the Chargers lost ball control and were lacking in their offense by the next set.
“They also found ways to capitalize on some of our weaknesses and we weren’t able to recover quickly enough to change the outcome,” senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen said.
The volleyball team is known for its resilient mental and physical toughness, but once Gannon took control of the court, its toughness was challenged.
“When one person breaks down, it’s contagious,” Gravel said. “We just went back to the drawing board and talked about how we need to be strong individuals. Although we have a strong mentality, this was a wake-up call that we can’t take it for granted.”
Shelton agreed that the team is constantly working on being better individually so that they all can support one another on the court.
“This is such a team sport, and it sounds cliché but we’re only as good as our weakest link,” Shelton said. “If one person isn’t performing well, it affects us and throws off our rhythm because we rely on one another so much.”
Although this loss upsets the Chargers’ perfect record, they were itching to take back a victory, and that is exactly what they did Tuesday afternoon. The Chargers went up against No. 12 the University of Findlay, and beat them in three sets, 25-18, 26-24, and 25-13.
As the second set tied at 24-24, it seemed that the Chargers might lose a match once again, but Shelton pulled through with the final kill. She ended the night with 13 kills, and Van Wienen ended with a team-high of 16 kills.
“I think after the loss, we all really have a fire under our belts,” Shelton said. “These next games should be good because we have something to prove.”
The team is back on the road this weekend for the final two regular season games, with an improved record of 11-1 overall and 9-0 in the G-MAC. They will play Cedarville University on Friday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m., and Ohio Valley University on Saturday, March 6 at 1 p.m.
“After this past week, my impression is that I really wouldn’t want to be the team that we play next,” Gravel said.
