2018 G-MAC Volleyball All-Conference Release
Winning an award or a team championship in sports is hard. Repeating is harder.
The Hillsdale College volleyball program never believes in doing things the easy way, and because of that, the hard things become historic accomplishments.
Senior Paige VanderWall was named the 2018 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year and head coach Chris Gravel was named the G-MAC Coach of the Year, both repeating awards they won in 2017. The awards were announced Thursday night at the G-MAC Volleyball Postseason Banquet, held on the campus of Hillsdale College, at the Dow Center.
VanderWall is the first volleyball player in G-MAC history to be named Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons.
Five Chargers earned First-Team All-Conference honors. In addition to VanderWall, senior outside hitter Kara Vyletel, junior libero Taylor Wiese, sophomore setter Lindsey Mertz and sophomore middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen were among the 12 players named First-Team All-G-MAC.
Junior middle hitter Hannah Gates earned her first career All-Conference honor, being named to the Second Team.
VanderWall's honor represents the sixth time a Hillsdale College volleyball player has been named conference player of the year, and she joins Ashlee Crowder as the only players in Charger history to win two conference player of the year honors. During the regular season, VanderWall was the G-MAC leader with 4.05 kills per set, and racked up an incredible six 20-kill matches. Her .321 hitting percentage is best among all non-middle hitters in the G-MAC. She's building a résumé that puts her among the the best players in program history. A left-hander with jumping ability, power and determination, VanderWall is the cimplete package as a volleyball player and, with her teammates, has added significant chapters to the rich history of Hillsdale College volleyball in her extraordinary career.
This is the sixth time Gravel has been named the top coach in his conference, adding to a legacy of winning and success that's hard to top anywhere in Division II. He guided Hillsdale to a 19-0 G-MAC record, best in conference history. In each of his two seasons coaching a G-MAC program, he's had six players named All-Conference, four of them in each of the past two seasons. This is also his 12th 20-win season as Hillsdale College head coach.
Vyletel has played some of her best volleyball in the past couple weeks, and was a First-Team selection for the second year in a row. She has 288 kills this season, averaging 3.47 per set, and has a career-best .272 hitting percentage this year.
Van Wienen notched her second First-Team honor in two years. Despite battling injuries throughout the season, she has a .304 hitting percentage and has 204 kills and 57 total blocks for the Chargers.
Wiese has enjoyed another outstanding season as one of the Midwest Region's best liberos. She's second in the G-MAC averaging 5.69 digs per set and has 535 total this year, third-most in school history. She had back-to-back 30-dig matches earlier this season, joining the AVCA's 30-dig club for the first time.
Mertz also repeated making First-Team All-Conference in her second season. She took her game to a new level I 2018, leading the G-MAC with 12.04 assists per set and 1,108 total for the year, fifth-most in a season in school history. She has five 50-assists matches this year and directs one of the G-MAC's deepest offensive units.
Gates has enjoyed her best season in 2018, ranking third in the conference and number one on the team with a .330 hitting percentage. She's set single-season career highs with 167 kills and 74 total blocks, forming a potent 1-2 combination in the middle with Van Wienen.