October 12, 2012 - The Hillsdale College volleyball team hopes it can start Saturday the way it finished Friday.
The Chargers turned in one of their best individual sets of the entire season, defeating Rockhurst University 3-1 Friday evening at the 2012 Mizuno GLIAC/GLVC Crossover in Aurora, Illinois. Hillsdale is now 10-9 on the season and will face the #2 seed from the gLVC, Missouri S&T, Saturday at 2:00 EDT.
After struggling with its passing and coverage in the first set, Hillsdale flipped the momentum big-time in the second set and didn't look back. The Chargers lost set 1 25-20, but bounced back to post wins of 25-21, 27-25 and 25-11 to wrap up the match. The team's set 4 performance, where it had a hitting percentage of .438 and held Rockhurst to -.029, was one of its finest of the season.
Freshman Emily Wolfert also gave a hint at her enormous potential by setting a new career hig high with 17 kills, and a .406 hitting percentage from her outside hitter position. Wolfert also had three deadly service aces and six digs in a complete all-around performance.
Junior Caitlin Kopmeyer was just as effective, with 15 kills, a .343 hitting percentage, two service aces and 14 digs. Senior Lauren Grover contributed 12 kills, had a season-high four solo blocks, and had two more block assists.
Sophomore Bailey Lindner had 23 digs, while setters Alexis Waugh (24) and Sydney Lenhart (30) combined for 54 assists. Juniro Bekah Draves was very effective with her line shots, and had eight kills and no errors, while freshman Haylee Booms added seven kills to the Chargers attack.