There have been many historic firsts in Hillsdale College volleyball in the last decade.
Add another one to the list this Wednesday afternoon.
For the first time in volleyball program history, and just the third time in the history of Hillsdale College athletics at the NCAA Division II level, Hillsdale has been ranked first in the nation. The Chargers were announced as the top team in the country with the release of the most recent AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 poll on Feb. 10.
In the previous week's AVCA poll, the Chargers were ranked second, their highest-ever ranking at that point. Hillsdale had previously been ranked as high as third in 2006, and had also earned a top five ranking in 2011.
The 5-0 Chargers follow in the footsteps of Hillsdale's women's cross country team, which achieved a No. 1 ranking in the USTFCCCA poll in 2015, and the women's indoor track and field team, which earned the No. 1 ranking on Feb 16, 2016, as the only three teams to be earn the top ranking in the nation since the Chargers became an NCAA Division II member in 1990.
It's been a long but steady climb for the Hillsdale College program, which had gone through 11 straight losing seasons when current head coach Chris Gravel took charge of the program in 1996.
Since then, Gravel has led the Chargers to a succession of firsts -- the first conference tournament appearance in 1997, the first NCAA Division II tournament appearance in 2004, the first regular season conference title and NCAA Tournament win in 2006, the first conference tournament championship in 2009, and the first Midwest Regional championship and NCAA Division II Final Four appearance in 2011.
More recently, Hillsdale has been building up momentum for another run at a first-ever national title, winning three straight Great Midwest Athletic Conference titles from 2017 to 2019 and, in 2019, reaching the Midwest Regional final for the first time since 2012.
That accomplishment, plus the return of several notable contributors from that squad, including All-American middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen and three-time All-Midwest Region setter Lindsey Mertz helped propel the Chargers up the rankings in this unusual spring 2021 campaign.
Hillsdale received 36 of a possible 45 first place votes in the poll and finished with 1,132 total ranking points.
Several regional and conference foes also made this week's poll, including 11th-ranked Walsh, whom the Chargers beat on the road in a 3-1 match on Saturday, Jan. 30.
Hillsdale plays in three matches this week, all at home. beginning with a 7 p.m. match against Ashland tonight, Wednesday.
The Chargers also will defend their No. 1 ranking against Davenport on Friday and G-MAC foe Lake Erie on Saturday.
Tickets for those matches will be available on https://hillsdale.universitytickets.com/, and you can also watch the Chargers in action at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hillsdale/.