Winning championships is never easy, and the road to this latest one wasn't perfectly smooth for the 11th-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team.
Facing a resilient Lake Erie College team in Ohio, the Chargers struggled at times, but finished strong in picking up a 3-1 win over the Storm Friday night. The win makes Hillsdale 22-3 overall and 11-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
The victory also mathematically clinches Hillsdale's third straight G-MAC regular season title. The Chargers will be the number one seed in next week's G-MAC Tournament, which begins Tuesday night.
Hillsdale trailed early in set one but rebounded to post a 25-20 win. The Storm forced the Chargers to a .044 hitting percentage in set two, a 25-22 LEC win, tying the match at 1 apiece. Set three was tightly played, going back and forth, but the Chargers came out with a 25-23 win to go up 2-1.
Set four was the Hillsdale team its fans have come to recognize and appreciate over all these years of success. The Chargers steamrolled the Storm 25-8, clinching the win in dominating fashion. Hillsdale hit .393 as a team in the fourth set while Lake Erie hit -.069.
Four players had double digits in digs for Hillsdale as Lake Erie kept the Chargers working on that side of the court throughout the match. Senior Taylor Wiese led a balanced defensive effort with 20 digs, while sophomore Karoline Shelton recorded another double double with 17 digs as well as 13 kills and a .324 hitting percentage. Junior setter Lindsey mertz picked up 11 digs to go with her 45 assists and junior Madie Schider chipped in with 10 digs.
Junior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen had 15 kills and a .400 hitting percentage while sophomore Maggie DePorre had 10 kills.
PHOTO: Logan Smith