Sophomore Jenna Southland and senior Adi Sysum jump to block an Ashland hit.
Courtesy | Ashland University Athletic Department
The Hillsdale volleyball team claimed three wins in Ohio, sweeping Ursuline College Oct. 30, Ashland University Oct. 31, and Lake Erie College Nov. 1.
The Chargers now stand 8-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and 10-10 overall.
The Chargers started their first set against the Ursuline Arrows with a 7-0 lead. The Arrows took the lead at 16-10, but with a 5-0 run and an ace from junior Chloe Pierce, the Chargers got to a 22-19 lead. From there, the Chargers won the set 25-12.
According to Pierce, the game against the Arrows was good to practice new positions and plays.
“When we played Ursuline, we were able to have some new people play different positions and switch things up a little bit,” Pierce said. “I got to play some middle back defense behind our freshman blockers, so that was really fun. Our coaches also gave us freedom to serve really aggressively, which helped our team get those aces of the day.”
In set two the Arrows tied with the Chargers at 24-all, but a kill from freshman Grace Drake secured Hillsdale a 26-24 second set win.
Hillsdale led for the majority of set three, despite the Arrows’ tough offense. Sophomore Hannah Baker hit four kills in the second half of the set and helped Hillsdale secure a 25-20 win.
According to senior Josie TeSlaa, the team expected how Ashland would play and went into the match with a mindset focused on winning.
“The energy was very good at Ashland,” TeSlaa said. “We played cool and confident. We knew Ashland would put up a fight, so we controlled what we could and respected them as our opponent.”
In the first set, the Chargers overpowered the Ashland Eagles at the net, winning 25-16. Throughout the whole game, the Chargers never let the Eagles take a lead bigger than 3-2. The team won the second set 25-17 and the third set 25-16.
TeSlaa was Hillsdale’s top setter of the night, with 18 assists. She also led defensively with 13 digs.
“I had some really great connections with our middles, making it easy to rack up some assists,” TeSlaa said. “Our middles hit .670 with no errors, which was amazing.”
According to assistant coach Megan Molenkamp the Chargers middles and setters were very successful in giving Ashland a hard game.
“In the match against Ashland, our middles, Jenna and Adi, really worked hard on their shot placement,” Molenkamp said. “They had zero errors and kept Ashland on their toes from start to finish. The other main contributing factor to our success that night was our aggressive serving. Our servers didn’t let Ashland run the offense they prefer to run because we served so well.”
In their game against Lake Erie, the Chargers led by six points and then were up 22-19 until Lake Erie tied the set 22-all. Hillsdale didn’t let Lake Erie get further than that, winning the set 25-23.
Hillsdale won the second set 25-18 with a nine-point lead midway through the set. The third set was a tight match between Lake Erie and the Chargers with Lake Erie winning the set 23-25.
Not wanting to give Lake Erie any room to push the game to five sets, the Chargers won set four 25-9.
Hillsdale’s offense was better than Lake Erie’s, finishing 56 kills to Lake Erie’s 4l kills. Sophomore Caroline Lanicek had a career-high of 14 kills, and Pierce had a career high of 33 digs. Lanicek said it was the effort of the whole team and their separate roles that helped her reach a new record.
“Our defense did a great job overall, especially in serve receive, which allowed our setters to distribute well,” Lanicek said. “It means a lot that my setters trusted me to put the ball away.”
Hillsdale now has a spot in the GMAC tournament for the ninth season straight.
Molenkamp said the Chargers are excited about their three wins of the weekend and will carry that energy into the next few weeks leading into the GMAC tournament.
“Making the GMAC tournament is something we strive for every season, so it is a great feeling to accomplish this goal,” Molenkamp said. “Making the GMAC tournament is step one; after that, we are looking to win enough matches to win the tournament.”
The Chargers will play Walsh University at home Nov. 7.
