November 3, 2012 - The beginning of this season was marked by gut-wrenching losses for the Hillsdlae College volleyball team. Saturday afternoon produced another one of those.
After falling behind 2-0, the Chargers stormed back to tie the match with Michigan Tech 2-2, and the teams played a fifth set that couldn't have been more even. But the Huskies came out on top in that fifth set, 15-13 to win the match 3-2.
Hillsdale is now 15-11 overall and 11-5 in the GLIAC. The team finishes up the regular season next weekend on the road versus Ferris State and Grand Valley State.
The Huskies, who are now 5-11 in the GLIAC, won the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-12. But Hillsdale improved its passing and defense starting with set three, and won 25-20 in set three and 25-17 in set four. Neither team led by more than three points in the fifth set, but MTU was able to turn around an 11-10 deficit to score five of the match's final seven points. Michigan Tech had its best hitting percentage set of the match in set five, generating 12 kills with just two errors while hitting.312.
Junior Caitlin Kopmeyer turned in another double double for Hillsdale with a team-high 12 kills to go along with 11 digs. Freshman Marissa Owen was a key part of the team's turnaround, playing the final three sets and picking up 17 digs, the second-most she's had in a match this season.
Senior Lauren Grover had five kills and five blocks, while junior Sydney Lenhart handed out 28 assists. Sophomore Kat Carpenter responded well after a rough first set to pick up nine kills.