There were some frightening costumes in the crowd in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena Saturday afternoon, but none were as scary as the efficiency with which the Hillsdale College volleyball team played.
After a competitive first set, the Chargers took care of business, sweeping Tiffin University 3-0 on Halloween afternoon to improve to 17-6 overall and 8-4 in the GLIAC.
Tiffin played active, desperate defense in the opening set and at one point, led 19-16. But the Chargers came back to score nine of the final 12 points to take a 1-0 lead, 25-22. Freshmen Paige VanderWall and Kara Vyletel had the final two kills for Hillsdale in that set after the score was 23-22.
Set two was all Hillsdale, as the Chargers' aggressive serving took Tiffin out of its preferred offensive sets. Hillsdale opened the set on a 16-3 run, taking advantage of errors and rough passing by Tiffin. As a team, the Dragons had 5 kills and 13 errors in the second set, adding up to a -.222 hitting percentage.
Junior Erin Holsinger was directly responsible for many of those errors, as she had one solo block and four block assists in that set alone.
Set three started out strong in Tiffin's favor, as the Dragons cleaned up their passing and promptly took a 6-1 lead. But as fast as that lead was built, Hillsdale made it disappear, clinching the match thanks to a 24-9 run to conclude the final set.
In the middle of that run was a remarkable sequence put together by Vyletel, who personally had 5 kills in a 6-1 Charger run that gave her team the lead for good. Senior setter Marissa Owen smartly identified the hot player and set Vyletel perfectly on the outside time after time.
Vyletel led the Charger offense with 10 kills while hitting .250. Senior Emily Wolfert and VanderWall each put away 7, while Haylee Booms and Kyra Rodi each had 6 kills. Rodi in particular was effective coming off the bench, attacking the ball with power and good court placement.
Owen had 18 assists while freshman Taylor Bennett added 16 assists. Sophomore Brittany Jandasek had 11 digs to lead the team.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale faces a key South Division clash with Findlay at home at 7:00 Tuesday.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Klopfer