It had been over a year since the 12th-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team last took the court for a match heading into Friday's home opener against Trevecca Nazarene.
And while the Chargers showed a little bit of rust here and there, their energy and desire to finally get to compete again more than made up for it in a 25-20, 25-10, 25-18 sweep of the visiting Trojans.
All 13 players who dressed saw action for Hillsdale as the Chargers took full advantage of their depth, with eight different players contributing kills in the victory.
Though there were several strong performances, it was well-known faces who led the way for the Chargers. Junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton, a first-team All-G-MAC player in 2019 when Hillsdale was last in action, had a huge night offensively, finishing with 13 kills on a 0.444 hitting percentage and also chipping in three aces, six digs and two block assists.
Meanwhile, senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen picked up where she left off in an All-American-worthy campaign in 2019 with nine kills and two aces as well.
Defense was also a strong point on the night, as the Chargers committed just two serve-receive errors in the victory and finished with two solo blocks and 10 block assists. Senior Madie Schider led the Chargers with 15 digs in her first appearance as a libero, filling in for graduated All-American Taylor Wiese.
Setters Lindsey Mertz and Madeline Zenas split time in the victory, with Mertz leading with 22 assists and Zenas chipping in 11.
While established stars shined for the Chargers, there were strong performances from both new faces and players emerging into bigger roles as well. Sophomore middle hitter Megan Kolp was third on the team with five kills and also chipped in two solo blocks and two block assists as well. Several freshmen also got their first action in Friday's match. Defensive specialist Alli Wiese, the younger sister of Taylor, had a strong debut, finishing second on the team with 13 digs and chipping in two aces as well, while fellow freshman middle hitter Maizie Brown made a big impact in limited time, finishing with three kills and two block assists in her first action as a Charger.
Hillsdale largely controlled the match throughout. The Chargers jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the first set behind strong hitting from Shelton and Van Wienen. When the Trojans made a run to cut the Charger lead to two at 16-14, Hillsdale reeled off four straight points, two of them kills by Van Wienen, to pull away again.
Excellent serving helped the Chargers run away with the second set. Hillsdale jumped out to a 6-1 lead behind strong serving from Wiese, and never looked back on the way to a 25-10 victory.
Looking to close out the match in the third set, Hillsdale fell behind a determined Trevecca team who fought to keep from getting swept. Trailing 9-6, Hillsdale went on a 6-0 run that included three straight aces by Shelton to seize control of the set and take the match.
The Chargers had a largely clean outing, committing just six hitting errors and one service error in the victory, while benefiting from 20 hitting errors and six service errors committed by the Trojans.
It's a strange year, to be sure. The Chargers have never been in action in competitive matches in January before. But for one night, with a large crowd in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena cheering on Hillsdale, things felt closer to normal than they have in a while for coaches, players and fans.
Hillsdale (1-0, 1-0 G-MAC) will look to build off their strong Friday start and complete the weekend sweep on Saturday afternoon against visiting Kentucky Wesleyan. The Panthers enter the match coming off a three-set loss to Findlay on Friday night.
Photo by Anthony Lupi
