For the first time since joining the GLIAC in 2010, the Ohio Dominican University volleyball team earned a win over Hillsdale College.
The Chargers blew a 2-0 lead and lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Panthers in Columbus Friday night. The loss drops Hillsdale out of the top eight in the conference, and gives the team an overall record of 8-11. The Chargers will try to get back on track Saturday afternoon when they take on Tiffin University in Ohio.
Hillsdale came out blazing in the first set, whipping the Panthers 25-13. But the match tightened up from there, with the Chargers squeaking out a 26-24 win in set 2 to take a 2-0 lead. ODU took control from there, winning the third set 25-23 and the fourth set 25-17 to set up what would be a dramatic fifth set.
Hillsdale held a 12-9 lead after junior Jordan Denmark deposited her 19th kill of the match, a new career high. But the Panthers dominated the middle from there, scoring the match's final six points. Three of those six points came on blocks, as they owned the net at crunch time, winning 15-12.
Denmark eclipsed her previous career high in kills, set just six days ago when she had 17 in a 3-2 win over Indianapolis. Sophomore Erin Holsinger also set a new career high with 8 total blocks, 7 of them coming in the match's first three sets. That blocks total is also tied for a team single-match high this season.
Freshman libero Brittany Jandasek also set a career-high with 28 digs. Junior setter Marissa owen had 49 assists and 9 digs, while senior Lindsay Kostrzewa had 10 kills and junior Emily Wolfert 9 kills.
After hitting .306 in the first set, the Chargers were held to a team hitting percentage of .119 or lower in each of the final four sets of the match. On the other side, Ohio Dominican hit .300 in the fifth set, committing just one hitting error en route to clinching the match.