Prairie Stars Edge Chargers

Prairie Stars Edge Chargers

Box score

The Hillsdale College volleyball team matched in points, across four sets, its opponents from the University of Illinois-Springfield in their Saturday matchup at Findlay. Unfortunately for the Chargers, it wasn't enough to win the match.

The Prairie Stars, after losing to Hillsdlae 25-18 in the opening set, won the final three sets by three, two and two points to emerge with a 3-1 regional win Saturday at the Croy Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Findlay. The loss snaps Hillsdale's five-game winning streak and leaves the team at 7-2 on the season.

The Chargers had a tough time finishing plays on offense, being held to a team hitting percentage of .099, a season-low. Much of that was due to the high level of defense UIS played. It had players all over the court, digging up balls that against a lesser team, would have gone down as easy kills for Hillsdale. UIS and Hillsdale battled down to the wire in the final three sets, but the Prairie Stars made the plays they absolutely had to have after each team came within three of winning a set.

The teams combined for 184 digs, 90 by the Chargers, an extraordinarily high number, especially for a four-set match. That was the indication of the quality of defense being played by both teams. A total of 10 different players, five on each team, had 10 or more digs.

Senior libero Taylor Wiese had 24 digs to lead the Chargers defensively, while junior Madie Schider added 22. Sophomore Karoline Shelton had 17 digs while Lindsey Mertz and Audrey Riley had 10 apiece.

Junior Allyssa Van Wienen led the offense with 13 kills, and fellow middle hitter Hannah Gates had another huge match at the net with 3 solo blocks and 4 block assists. 

PHOTO: Victoria Addis