There is nothing dirty about this dozen straight wins for the Hillsdale College volleyball team.
Hillsdale dispatched East Division leader Walsh University 3-0 Friday night in North Canton, Ohio, winning for the 12th straight time and improving to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. This is the program's longest winning streak since its Final Four season of 2011.
The Chargers couldn't have started the match much better than it did, absolutely blitzing the Cavaliers right from the first serve, winning the opening set 25-7. The team had a .545 hitting percentage in the set while holding Walsh to a mark of -.160. it was one of those sets where the stats accurately reflected the score.
Sets two and three were more closely played, but still won by Hillsdale 25-17 and 25-22. Set three saw the Cavaliers take leads briefly, including a 16-15 edge that forced Hillsdale to call a timeout. The Chargers then fired off five straight points coming out of the timeout, taking a 20-16 lead and seizing momentum for good.
Hillsdale's .437 hitting percentage for the match was its second-highest of the season. Keying that efficiency was junior right-side hitter Paige VanderWall, who set a career high for most kills without an error in a match, leading all players with 14. She had just 18 attempts for a .778 hitting percentage. An extraordinary performance.
Freshman setter Lindsey Mertz handed out 37 assists and picked up 7 digs in another excellent match. Senior outside hitter Jackie Langer was second on the team with 12 kills and had 9 digs, and freshman middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen had 9 kills and a .571 hitting percentage. Sophomore libero Taylor Wiese dug up 16 balls to lead Hillsdale's back row.