The Hillsdale volleyball team completed a four-match road stretch last weekend with two sweeps, improving to 11-2 overall and 4-0 in conference.

On Friday, Sept. 16 and Saturday Sept. 17 the Chargers competed in a pair of away matchups against the Malone University Pioneers and the Walsh University Cavaliers. They won both in three sets with final scores of 25-21, 25-13, 25-16 and 25-17, 25-19, 25-22.

“Obviously the positive was that we were able to win,” head coach Chris Gravel said. “Executing a complete game plan is still something that we need to work on, but we did implement some of the things that we practiced and that was encouraging.”

Sophomore Marilyn Popplewell, who recorded a match-high 13 kills against Malone on Friday, agreed with Gravel that consistency is an area of the team’s game which will require more work. However, she also noted her optimism about the improvement she has already begun to see.

“I think we have struggled a little with consistency throughout an entire weekend,” Popplewell said. “But, after this weekend I think we are coming out of that. We’ve done a good job of working really hard in practice to pick out each other’s weaknesses and it’s making us better when it comes to game time.”

Gravel noted last week that practices were going to be intense leading up to the Malone and Walsh matches as the team focused on remaining in peak physical condition. According to senior Linnea Larson, he made good on that statement.

“Our practices last week were challenging,” Larson said. “Especially in middle reps, our coaches have been pushing us to keep getting faster and build more trust with the setters. I think this really helped us last weekend, as we established more of an offensive presence on the court.”

The Charger’s offense certainly did show up strong in both outings as it recorded kill totals of 44 and 42 respectively and bested both opponents in service aces 6-0 and 8-3.

Now 13 matches into the season, Hillsdale has shown that even after losing many impact players from last year’s lineup, depth will not be a problem. In fact, the current roster’s selection of talent has given Gravel the opportunity to work creatively with the lineup between and sometimes even during matches.

“One of our strengths this season has been our depth and our ability to change different people with different matchups,” Gravel said. “The players are doing a nice job of adapting and doing the best they can in whatever lineup I throw out there.”

Gravel continued, saying that he plans to keep this useful strategy available but will also ensure that he can use a consistent lineup when it is the better option.

“We have to be able to have one lineup that can be consistent through at least three sets,” Gravel said. “So that’s what we’re looking to do, to stay one step ahead of them with those changes by our choice, not because we have to make them.”

The Chargers now prepare to bring the excitement of conference play back home in matches against the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers and the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans. These matches will be played in Hillsdale on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24.

In preparation Gravel noted that they will be making some adjustments to the practice schedule.

“We’re shortening our practice times just a little bit, but we’re also having individual groups come in throughout the day,” Gravel said. “We’ll be working specifically with people on things that they might not get too much focus on in the 18- or 19-person team aspect.”

In addition to these adjustments, Gravel again noted that they will continue to work on conditioning.

“We’d like to be the best conditioned team at the end of the season,” Gravel said. “We start out the year every year and really focus on playing and getting together but during that time there’s a lot of standing around. So, we’re actually going to go back to conditioning a little bit harder this week.”

Holding onto a 75-match win streak in conference play, and with no hint of slowing down, Popplewell said she believes that the atmosphere surrounding the team is good right now.

“I think we’re all excited as we dive deeper into conference play. A few of us have had some colds so trying to stay healthy is a big thing right now,” Popplewell said. “But we’re all trying to keep pushing to make each other better every day.”