WHAT: Terrace Hotel Classic
WHERE: Florida Southern College - Lakeland, Florida
SCHEDULE:
Hillsdale College vs. Concordia-St. Paul - Friday, Sept. 6 11:00 a.m. | Live Stats Webcast
Hillsdale College at Florida Southern - Friday, Sept. 6 7:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Webcast
Hillsdale College vs. Central Missouri - Saturday, Sept. 7 1:15 p.m. | Live Stats | Webcast
Hillsdale College vs. Indiana (PA) - Saturday, Sept. 7 5:15 p.m. | Live Stats | Webcast
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: It's difficult to conceive of a more challenging opening weekend than the gauntlet that faces the Chargers...Hillsdale resides in the "others receiving votes" category of the AVCA Division II Top 25 preseason poll...This season opens up identical to last year with seven-time national champion Concordia-St. Paul as the first opponent...Hillsdale will then face tournament host Florida Southern, who features Charger Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Ashlee Crowder on its coaching staff...Saturday's opponents feature perennial top-25 power Central Missouri as well as a solid Indiana (PA) program...This tournament had been canceled due to Hurricane Dorian, but the storm's path was projected far enough north to spare the Lakeland area from significant damage, and the cancellation was...canceled...All four matches will feature live stats and will be webcast, with links listed above.
VOLLEYS
- Hillsdale has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, all since 2004, and all four of its opponents this weekend have qualified for the postseason since 2017...The Chargers have qualified for regionals in three of the past four years
- Head coach Chris Gravel enters the 2019 season with 476 career victories, just 24 shy of the coveted 500 win milestone
- Senior libero Taylor Wiese enters the 2019 season with 1,642 career digs, ranking her fourth in school history...Her 618 digs last year set a school single-season record during the 25-point rally score era (2008-present)
- Junior setter Lindsey Mertz enters the 2019 season with 2,361 career assists, ranking her sixth in school history through just two seasons as the starter
- This is the Chargers' first trip to Florida Southern College since they played in an early season tournament to start the 2007 season
- Hillsdale was picked to win the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship in the coach's preseason poll...Hillsdale picked up 10 of a possible 13 first-place votes