FRIDAY RECAP
Box score: Hillsdale 3, Gannon 0
Box score: Hillsdale 3, Clarion 1
The Charger volleyball team played its season-opening matches of 2015 with plenty of questions to answer, while facing the teams picked first and second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference preseason poll.
Head coach Chris Gravel, entering his 20th season, had to like the answers he got from his team Friday afternoon in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
The Chargers opened the day at the Tony Banner Invitational with a 3-0 win over Gannon Friday afternoon. Friday night, Hillsdale recorded a 3-1 win over host Clarion, the PSAC preseason favorite.
In the opener versus the Golden Knights, the Chargers won the three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-12 and 25-23. Four different players had 6 or more kills for Hillsdale, who played well as a team defensively, holding Gannon to a .136 hitting percentage.
Senior middle hitter Emily Wolfert led the team with 10 kills and 4 total blocks, while senior Marissa Owen dished out 15 assists. Freshman outside hitters Kara Vyletel and Paige VanderWall combined for 15 kills in their collegiate debuts. Senior Jenalle Beaman led Hillsdale defensively with 15 kills.
Against Clarion, the Chargers took the first two sets by identical 25-21 scores. Clarion rebounded to post a 25-20 win in set three, but after that, Hillsdale had enough. The Chargers routed Clarion 25-11 in set four to clinch the match.
Vyletel tallied 14 kills in her second career match. Junior Erin Holsinger was dominant at the net with 9 kills, a .400 hitting percentage and 7 total blocks. Owen had 19 assists while freshman Taylor Bennett had 13 assists in her second career match. Freshman Christine Siddall recorded her first career kill on the fourth set's 25th point for the Chargers.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
In set 2 vs. Gannon, a 25-12 Hillsdale win, the Chargers hit .448 as a team…Gannon committed 10 service errors compared to 3 for Hillsdale…Setters Owen and Bennett did a good job of spreading the ball around – six different players had 10 or more attack attempts against Gannon…Clarion hit below .075 in each of the three sets it lost in Friday's nightcap…Both teams had low hitting percentages due to the high number of blocks (13 for Hillsdale, 9 for Clarion)…Hillsdale is off to its first 2-0 start since 2009.