For the third straight weekend of play, the Hillsdale volleyball team swept six straight sets, going unbeaten in its first two home conference matches of the season and extending its in-conference win streak to 78 matches.
The Chargers took down the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers and Trevecca Nazarene Trojans on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24, playing in Hillsdale for the first time since their Sept. 6 matchup against Davenport. The final scores were 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-15, 27-25, 25-22 respectively which marked 18 straight unbeaten conference sets to start the season.
“We did what we needed to do,” head coach Chris Gravel said. “It was a good overall week of work and a lot of people contributed.”
Hillsdale put forth a strong team effort against the Panthers on Friday, with all those who dressed seeing playing time. As a result, some of the younger members of the team got the chance to showcase skills on the floor.
“Jaclyn Wise and Emory Braswell came in Friday and did really well on the outside,” Gravel said. “Another good performance was from Adi Sysum, who played both days and came up with some big plays.”
Some of the more weathered athletes on the team also noticed the positive impact these players had while on the floor.
“This weekend was exciting because we were able to show our depth,” senior Madeline Zenas said. “On our team, we have so many different lineups and so many different individuals who had the opportunity to step up this weekend.”
On Saturday, the Chargers faced more of a challenge from the Trojans. After dominating in the first set, they fell behind early in the second and had to battle their way back. Late into the match the Trojans held a 24-21 lead, but the Chargers were able to tie the score before moving on to finish with the 27-25 victory.
“We have a problem with staying focused in set two sometimes,” Gravel said. “It makes for exciting volleyball but probably limits my life a little bit.”
He said, though, that the game was a good opportunity for the team to work on playing under pressure.
“We had to fight back, and it’s good to be able to practice those things, especially when it comes out in your favor,” Gravel said. “But we could have very easily lost that set. Whether we deserved it or not, I don’t know, but we definitely worked hard enough to get that win.”
After securing this win, the Chargers wrapped up the third and final set to take the match.
“This week we placed more of an emphasis on conditioning than weeks past, and I think this was shown during the long rallies on Saturday against Trevecca,” sophomore Lauren Passaglia said. “They’re a great all-around team as are we, but at this high of a level it takes more than talent to win games.”
In addition to running through an increased amount of conditioning in practice this week, the Chargers also worked with more focus on individual positions.
“This week we tried some individual group position training sessions, which I think helped a lot of us,” Zenas said. “It allowed us to take some time to focus on what we could change to help better ourselves and in return, for the team. You could see a lot of us working on what we learned and it was shown on the court.”
The team concluded its home stand with an impressive Tuesday night match against the Northwood Timberwolves. The Chargers completed the match with 63 kills and a .345 hitting percentage, winning 3-1 among many notable performances.
Senior Karoline Shelton led the offensive attack with 17 kills while Marilyn Popplewell, Megan Kolp, and Maizie Brown each recorded double digit kill totals of their own. Sophomore Lauren Passaglia also accomplished the incredible feat of recording 59 assists, just two shy of the program’s single match assist record.
The Chargers now prepare to go back on the road Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1 in matches against Cedarville and Ohio Dominican.
“It starts a long road stretch and it’d be nice to get that off to a good start,” Gravel said. “Cedarville can play like national champions at any time, and Ohio Dominican has a much improved program with a coach that has done a really nice job there. We’ve got to work out for ourselves this week.”