The Hillsdale College volleyball team officially punched its ticket to the postseason with a 3-1 win Saturday afternoon over Malone University in Canton, Ohio.
The win, the Chargers' 13th straight, makes the team 20-3 overall and 10-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and clinched a spot in next month's conference tournament.
It will be a welcome return to postseason play for the Chargers, who missed the GLIAC Tournament last year. But the way this team is playing this year, simply qualifying for postseason play is a foregone conclusion.
Hillsdale turned in another strong performance against the Pioneers Saturday, limiting Malone to a team hitting percentage of .123. The Pioneers hit less than .100 in two of Saturday's four sets and had 23 fewer team kills than the Chargers (60-37).
The Chargers held a 2-0 lead after winning sets one and two by scores of 25-19 and 25-13. Malone upped its level of play in set three, winning 25-22. Malone led set four 6-4, but the Chargers dug down and went on a set-changing 8-1 run to take the lead for good. Senior Jackie Langer, who had a terrific match, had three kills in that 8-1 spurt.
Langer had one of her most efficient matches of the season with 10 kills, 0 errors, a .385 hitting percentage and 11 digs for Hillsdale.
Freshman middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen was excellent throughout the match with 14 kills, a .333 hitting percentage and 6 digs. Junior Paige VanderWall contributed 11 kills and 12 digs, and had 10 kills before committing her first error of the match.
A big part of Malone's low hitting percentage was the play of libero Taylor Wiese, who had 27 digs to lead the Charger defense. Junior Kara Vyletel rang up a double-double with 14 kills and 17 digs, while freshman setter Lindsey Mertz had 42 assists and 9 digs for the Chargers.