November 2, 2012 - The Hillsdale College volleyball team has joined their friends on the football team in Michigan's Upper Peninsula this weekend, and the trip did not get off to a good start for the Chargers.
Hillsdale lost for the second straight time, 3-1, to Northern Michigan University Friday night in Marquette. The Chargers are now 15-11 overall and 11-4 in the GLIAC, and face Michigan Tech at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The Chargers got off to a very slow start to the match, hitting -.148 in a 25-14 loss in the first set. However, Hillsdale turned it around in the second set, improving its hitting percentage to .361 in a 25-21 win over NMU.
The Wildcats trailed early in both the third (6-2) and fourth (8-4) sets, but rallied impressively to post a pair of 25-22 victories. Northern Michigan got some strong performances from its front row, as the team doubled Hillsdale's total blocks (10-5) and the Wildcats hit .312 for the match as a team. Hillsdale had a team hitting percentage of .222. NMU also generated 16 points off serving in the match, combining 12 service aces with four service errors committed by the Chargers.
Leading the team offensively was senior Lauren Grover and freshman Emily Wolfert, (pictured) who each had 12 kills. Eleven of Wolfert's kills came in the final three sets, highlighted by a six-kill, two-block second set.
Junior Caitlin Kopmeyer had 11 kills and nine digs for the Chargers, while sophomore libero Bailey Lindner led the team with 17 digs. Freshman Haylee Booms tacked on five kills and three block assists.
Junior Sydney Lenhart dished out 28 assists for Hillsdale and had two service aces. Sophomore Alexis Waugh added 16 assists and seven digs for the Chargers.