The Hillsdale College volleyball team’s five-match victory over the Ohio Dominican Panthers on Friday evening was dramatic — not only because of the tight score, but because it marked head coach Chris Gravel’s 400th career win.
“Generally a win total just shows that you’re old,” Gravel said with a smile. “I saw how much it meant to so many people — players present and past, and families present and past — and that meant a lot to me. It was just a feeling that I am a part of something.”
Freshman outside hitter Paige VanderWall credits Gravel for creating a legacy.
“It’s a win that generations of Hillsdale volleyball players have all contributed to and worked for,” VanderWall said. “It is owed to coach because he has brought everyone onto this team, coached them, and made them successful.”
Gravel found wins 401 and 402 in the next few days. The Chargers defeated the Tiffin Dragons 3-0 on Saturday then got some revenge against the Findlay Oilers in a 3-1 triumph on Tuesday night. The 3-0 weekend boosted the Chargers to 10-4 in the GLIAC and 18-6 overall.
Gravel said his team worked hard in practice last week to bounce back from the previous 0-2 weekend in West Michigan.
“We had that rough weekend a couple weeks ago and that was kind of foreseeable because of how we’d been going about practice,” Gravel said. “We were working hard, but weren’t working hard and smart and we were taking a lot of things for granted. So everything that we should have achieved two weekends ago, we’ve worked really hard the last two weeks, to reach that level.”
Junior middle hitter Erin Holsinger said her team’s practice mentality has improved since the losing weekend.
“We practiced really hard the week before coming off the losses from the weekend before,” Holsinger said. “We wanted to play against Findlay like we had been practicing and I think we would all agree we did. We want to bring the same mentality we bring to practice when we play each other to our games. All out every time.”
The win over Findlay put the Chargers just one win away from first place in the South Division. Findlay and Ashland are currently tied for that top rank with matching 11-3 conference records.
After losing to the Oilers on the road earlier this season, the Chargers were looking for revenge. But the Oilers came out strong and found a 25-23 victory in set one. After that, however, the Chargers took control.
“There was no big change,” Gravel said. “We got a little more consistent the next three sets and then with that first loss we didn’t let it devastate us. We really had that set in hand and let it slip away but then we kept looking forward.”
The Chargers powered to three straight wins — 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 — to seal the match.
Gravel said Tuesday’s stats showed his team’s well-balanced offense. Senior setter Marissa Owen and freshman setter Taylor Bennett spread out the sets allowing five Chargers to record at least eight kills during the match.
Senior outside hitter Emily Wolfert dominated with 11 kills and nine blocks. VanderWall slammed 10 kills, while senior outside hitter Jordan Denmark matched those 10 kills in what Gravel called “a breakout match.” Senior right side hitter Haylee Booms had a noteworthy nine kills and an errorless match.
Sophomore defensive specialist Brittany Jandasek had 20 digs and contributed two important service aces in set four.
“You can see that Brittany is back and comfortable again after a few weeks out. She’s been playing really well,” Gravel said.
The Chargers brought a similarly spread-out offensive effort to Friday night’s game against Ohio Dominican, as nine Chargers recorded double-digit kills.
VanderWall led her team with 15 kills, and had superb accuracy in the second set with eight kills in just nine attempts. VanderWall also had six digs and four block assists. Freshman outside hitter Kara Vyletel slammed 12 kills, served three aces and had 12 digs. Wolfert had another sweet performance with 11 kills and 11 digs.
The Chargers allowed the Panthers to grab a win in set one, then fought back for set two. In back-and-forth fashion, the Panthers went on to win set three. In set four, the Chargers finally found some solid momentum which carried them into the fifth set 15-9 victory. Booms played a crucial role in the fifth set, scoring two of her 10 kills.
Gravel said his team was still working to fix some issues during Friday’s match.
“We had some communication problems,” Gravel said. “We had to deal with them through that match under duress, which is exactly what you want to do. We did get it worked out and played better the next day and then even better into Tuesday.”
On Saturday, the Chargers swept the Dragons in a 3-0 match through aggressive serving and good ball control.
“We were in control most of the match, there was some back and forth play,” Gravel said. “The trick against Tiffin is to serve them aggressively and not give them any easy balls. So we kept pressure on them which allowed us to score at a pretty good rate.”
After cruising through the first two sets, the Chargers came out flat in set three, allowing the Dragons to snatch a 5-0 lead. After a Hillsdale timeout, the Chargers sprinted for a 24-9 run to finish the match.
This weekend Hillsdale will hit the road to play Malone (3-11) at 7 p.m. on Friday and Walsh (3-11) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
