Over the last decade, the Hillsdale College volleyball program has grown into a nationally-relevant outfit, thanks to three NCAA Division II Sweet 16 appearances and a Final Four trip in 2011.
On Wednesday afternoon, the American Volleyball Coaches Association showed just how much respect has grown around the country for Charger volleyball with its latest Division II Top 25 national poll.
The Chargers jumped 10 places from their initial ranking of 12th in the preseason poll, all the way to second in the nation in Division II, Hillsdale's highest-ever ranking as a program.
Hillsdale received four first-place votes and 1,013 total points to come in second in the poll behind 2019 national runner-up Nebraska-Kearney, who topped the poll with 39 first-place votes and 1,069 total points.
The ranking is the Chargers' highest-ever in an AVCA poll in program history, surpassing the 2006 squad, which was ranked third in Division II on Oct. 30, 2006. During that season, the Chargers, led by All-American Taryn Rudland, went a perfect 28-0 in the regular season and picked up the program's first ever tournament win before falling in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
It's also Hillsdale's first top five ranking since 2011, when the Chargers were ranked as high as fifth in the nation during the regular season. That year, led by All-Americans Ashlee Crowder, Clara Leutheuser and Apryl Schmucker, Hillsdale won the program's first-ever Midwest Regional title and reach the only NCAA Division II Final Four in program history.
The 2021 group has certainly earned their way to the top spot. Seven of the Chargers' top nine players return from a group that went 28-4, won its third straight G-MAC title and reached the Midwest Regional Final in 2019, including consensus first-team All-American middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen, second-team All-Midwest Region honorees Lindsey Mertz, a senior setter, and Karoline Shelton, a junior outside hitter, and second-team All-G-MAC outside hitter Maggie DePorre.
The Chargers have started the spring 2021 season 4-0, including an impressive 3-1 win on the road over otherwise unbeaten Walsh last Saturday. Along with those returning standouts, Hillsdale looks deeper overall than the 2019 squad, with impressive contributions from its incoming freshman class in the four victories so far.
Hillsdale's new ranking will be tested immediately this weekend, as the Chargers travel to Erie, Pennsylvania on Saturday to face their first ranked opponent of the season, Gannon, who came in at 22nd in the nation in this week's poll. The Knights were a NCAA Division II Elite Eight squad in 2019 and return several pieces from that team as well.