In the sport of volleyball, no three-set match can be played that was as closely contested as Saturday's match between Hillsdale College and Ashland University.
The Eagles turned in an extremely impressive performance in earning a 3-0 win over the Chargers at Jesse Philips Arena. Each set was decided by two points, with Ashland prevailing 26-24, 25-23 and 25-23.
Hillsdale, now 10-9 overall and 7-4 in the GLIAC, now awaits its opponents at next weekend's GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament in suburban Chicago.
The Eagles came off a four-set loss on the road to Northwood Friday night, but showed no signs of fatigue, as they executed their offense and defense with impressive crispness throughout the match. Although Hillsdale held Ashland to a .076 hitting percentage, the Eagles came up with big plays at the most crucial time of each set to pick up its first win over Hillsdale since October 2009.
In a rare statistical oddity, Charger sophomore Haylee Booms had more block assists - 9 - than any Hillsdale player had kills. Booms and sophomore Emily Wolfert each had seven kills to lead the offense.
The Chargers had just a .120 hitting percentage for the match, and committed five service errors while not recording a service ace of its own. Ashland owned an 11-0 scoring advantage in serving, a key swing point in the match.
Sophomore Marissa Owen had 28 assists for the Chargers, while senior Caitlin Kopmeyer had 16 digs to lead the team.
Booms finished with two solo blocks and a career-high nine block assists. Wolfert added four block assists for Hillsdale.