For the first time in more than 8 years, the Hillsdale College volleyball team lost at home to Grand Valley State University.
The Lakers played strong at the tail end of the final three sets of Saturday's match, knocking off the Chargers 3-1. GVSU, the GLIAC regular season champions, are 17-1 in conference play while Hillsdale finishes the regular season at 15-14 overall and 10-7 in the GLIAC.
The Chargers will head to Ashland, Ohio Wednesday night to fave the Eagles in the first round of the 2013 GLIAC Tournament.
Hillsdale opened the match with energy and execution, grabbing a 4-0 lead to open the first set,. The teams played tightly throughout and Hillsdale was able to withstand a late rally by the Lakers to take the lead in the match with a 25-23 win.
GVSU roared right back in the second set, taking a 12-4 lead on its way to a 25-16 win. Set three was tied 15-15 at one point, but the Lakers finished the set on a 10-3 run to win 25-18. Set four followed a similar pattern, with the teams knotted up 19-19 at one point. The Lakers then ripped off the last six straight points of the set to wrap up the match.
The Lakers held the Chargers to a team hitting percentage of .064 in the match. Over the final two sets, Hillsdale had 19 kills and 19 hitting errors, which translates to a .000 hitting percentage for those two sets.
Junior Lindsay Kostrzewa had a big match at her middle hitter position with 10 kills, nine block assists and a .471 hitting percentage. Sophomore Emily Wolfert led the Chargers with 12 kills, while senior Caitlin Kopmeyer sparked the defense with 16 digs.
Junior Alexis Waugh delivered two service aces and a team-high 22 assists, and sophomore Jenalle Beaman produced eight kills and 12 digs.