The top-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team has been a dominant force in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference over the last four years, with a winning streak in conference regular season and tournament matches that now stretches to 61.
But Findlay has been close behind the Chargers for most of their tenure, meeting Hillsdale in the G-MAC tournament finals twice and handing the Chargers one of their only two losses in G-MAC matches as a conference member.
Once again, the 13th-ranked Oilers are in the hunt for the conference title, just a game behind Hillsdale in the G-MAC title race at 6-1. Friday's match could be the big upset that throws the G-MAC title race into chaos, or a victory for the Chargers that goes a long way toward securing a fourth-straight conference crown.
While complying with MDHHS orders, Hillsdale College is now allowing a limited number of fans to attend games at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena for the remainder of the season. You can find more details at this link, and you can also find links to ticket pages for each game below. Tickets will not go on sale until 24 hours before each match.
You can also follow along with all the action on the Great Midwest Digital Network. Links to both live stats and the streaming webcast for each match are below.
Schedule
#13 Findlay (6-1, 6-1 GLIAC) at #1 Hillsdale (8-0, 6-0 G-MAC) | 7:00 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Follow/Watch
Live Stats vs Findlay | Webcast vs Findlay | Tickets
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Findlay Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | 2021 Findlay Stats
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #9 Allyssa Van Wienen, Sr., MH, Grand Rapids, MI/Christian (2nd G-MAC in hitting %, 6th in K/S, 3rd in B/S, 2nd in P/S); #15 Lindsey Mertz, Sr., S, Frankenmuth, MI/Frankenmuth (1st in G-MAC in A/S, 2019 1st Team All-G-MAC, 2nd Team All-Midwest); #7 Karoline Shelton, Jr., OH, Shawnee, KS/Mission South (8th in G-MAC in hitting %, 2nd in K/S, 3rd in SA/S, 1st in P/S); #4 Alli Wiese, Fr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (4th in G-MAC in D/S, 4th in SA/S)
Findlay: #18 Hannah Warrington, Fr, OH, Findlay, OH/Liberty Benton (8th G-MAC in K/S, 5th in SA/S, 5th P/S); #2 Emily Annesser, Jr., S, Ottawa, OH/Ottawa-Glandorf (5th in G-MAC in hitting %); #9 Abigail Schroeder, Jr., S, Pemberville, OH/Eastwood (6th in G-MAC in A/S); #15 Emma Meyer, So, MH, Anna, OH/Anna (4th in G-MAC in B/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Findlay: A perennial title contender in the G-MAC since joining in 2017, the Oilers look like they're back to being one of the conference's top teams after a down year in 2019.
Findlay is off to a 6-1 start with a quality win over Cedarville, though it has either lost to or has yet to play any of the other teams who are in the top five in the G-MAC standings currently.
Freshman outside hitter Hannah Warrington has been a revelation for the Oilers in her first season despite her 5-foot-6 stature, turning into one of the conference's best hitters early-on.
Findlay is led by a lights-out offense that is challenging Hillsdale's for the best in the G-MAC, with a .236 team hitting percentage, 13.58 kills per set, and 2.08 aces per set, but they haven't been quite as good defensively – an area to improve on as the Oilers look toward a tough stretch run in conference play.
The Oilers are coached by Wick Colchagoff, who's been an institution for 23 years at Findlay, with a 462-269 mark and 16 20-win seasons entering the 2021 campaign, as well as five NCAA Division II tournament bids.
Scouting the Chargers
The Chargers ascended to the top spot in the Division II rankings for the first time in program history last week, and played like it in three sweeps of Ashland, Davenport and Lake Erie.
Hillsdale is chasing a fourth-straight G-MAC regular season and tournament title, and looks well on its way with a squad that's got a level of depth and talent that few Charger teams have had in head coach Chris Gravel's storied 25 year tenure.
All-American middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen, and junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton have been a lethal 1-2 punch for the Chargers, combining for 175 kills between the two of them in eight matches and both holding hitting percentages of .325 or better.
Hillsdale's ability to spread the ball around to effective hitters, thanks to setters Lindsey Mertz and Madeline Zenas, is a large part of what makes the team so dangerous. Seven Chargers are averaging 1.5 or more kills per set through the team's first eight matches.
The Chargers also have played extremely clean volleyball so far. Hillsdale has a kill to attack error ratio of 3.23 in the five matches it's played, and has committed just 21 service errors and 24 reception errors. That lack of mistakes makes it extremely difficult for opponents to get back in the match if the Chargers' powerhouse offense can get out to an early lead.
Coaching the Chargers for the 25th year is Chris Gravel, who's built Hillsdale's program from the ground up and into one of the top programs in the Midwest Region. Under Gravel, the Chargers have won seven conference regular season titles, six conference tournament titles, made 12 NCAA Division II tournament appearances, won the Midwest Regional title in 2011, and reached the NCAA DII Final Four in that same year.
Other Notes
- Findlay is one of only two programs to beat Hillsdale during the Chargers' four years as a G-MAC member and the last one to beat Hillsdale, in a 3-2 NCAA tournament victory on Nov. 30, 2017. Since that match, Hillsdale has won four straight over the Oilers, and has a 28-18 lead in the all-time series over Findlay.
- Hillsdale moved into the top spot in the AVCA Division II rankings for the first time in program history in the Feb. 10 poll, a week after earning the No. 2 ranking for the first time in program history as well. Prior to this season, the Chargers highest ranking was third in the nation in the 2006 season. The last time the Chargers were ranked in the top five nationally prior to this season was 2011, when Hillsdale made its only NCAA Division II Final Four appearance in program history.
- Both Hillsdale and Findlay are currently occupying their highest rankings in the AVCA poll in the history of either program, with the Chargers in the top spot and the Oilers ranked 13th. Friday's matchup will be a battle of the two highest-ranked teams combined in G-MAC volleyball history.
- Senior Allyssa Van Wienen had two notable firsts this weekend, reaching her first career milestone by surpassing 1,000 kills against Davenport on Friday, and earning G-MAC defensive player of the week honors on Monday. Van Wienen needs just 31 kills to surpass Melissa Bartlett ('08)'s career total of 1,046 and break into the top 10 all time in Charger history in the statistic. She's already in the career top-10 in blocks for the Chargers, passing Emily Wolfert ('15) last week to move into 8th all time with 286 for her career.
- Junior Karoline Shelton has gotten off to a hot start to the spring 2021 season. Shelton is not only ranked in the G-MAC in multiple categories, she's also 13th among all Division II players in points per set (4.64) and 17th among all DII players in kills per set (3.96) through last weekend's games.
- Senior setter Lindsey Mertz is currently third in the nation in all of Division II with 11.43 assists per set through eight matches. At 3,866 for her career, Mertz needs just 774 assists to pass Stephanie Booms ('09) for the program's all-time record.
- Senior libero/defensive specialist Madie Schider now has 898 digs for her career and is 31 digs behind Amanda Proctor ('04) for 10th all-time in Charger history. Schider also has a very real chance to become the 10th player in program history with 1,000 digs.