Marquette, Michigan has not been kind in recent years to the Hillsdale College volleyball team. Nor was it kind to the Chargers Friday night.
A tough night passing led to 24 hitting errors by Hillsdale in a close three-set loss to the host Northern Michigan University Wildcats. NMU won the sets by scores of 25-21, 29-27 and 25-22.
Hillsdale will look to get back on track in the second half of its Upper Peninsula trip Saturday afternoon when it takes on Michigan Tech University at 3 p.m.
During its five-match winning streak, the team had shown incredible efficiency on offense, spreading the ball around while hitting for a high percentage. But in Friday's loss, the Chargers could not sustain many long stretches of good play against a Northern Michigan team that is now 6-0 in the GLIAC.
Hillsdale hit just .093 as a team in the match and were outblocked by the Wildcats 16-10.
NMU fought off three straight set points in the second set, and eventually came back to win. Hillsdale held a 24-21 lead, only to see the Wildcats score four straight points to force extra time.
Sophomore Erin Holsinger led the Charger offense with 9 kills and a .412 hitting percentage. Junior Emily Wolfert added 7 kills, 3 service aces and 9 digs, while freshman Jessie Kopmeyer contributed 6 kills and no hitting errors in giving the team an offensive lift in the second half of the match.
Marissa Owen had 27 assists and 7 digs, while libero Brittany Jandasek led Hillsdale with 13 digs. The Chargers have won just once at Northern Michigan over the past dozen years.