After one set on Saturday, it looked like the top-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team would do to visiting Gannon what it had done to all but one opponent this season -- roll to an easy victory.
But when the Knights switched up their lineup and the momentum shifted in Gannon's favor, the Chargers were never able to get that momentum back, suffering their first loss of the season in a 25-15, 22-25, 22-25, 18-25 defeat.
Hillsdale seized control of the first set early on, scoring seven of the next eight points after trailing 4-3 early to take an edge it would never relinquish.
The Chargers' balanced offense served it well in that first set victory, and the Chargers came up with several big blocks at the net to clamp down on the Knights.
Gannon made substantial lineup changes in the second set, including swapping out its libero, and the moves paid immediate dividends, improving the quality of the Knights' passing and significantly cutting down on the number of errors Gannon made on the court.
In each of the final three sets, Gannon went on big runs in the middle of the set to take substantial leads into the latter portions of the set, and while the Chargers were able to claw their way back somewhat in all three sets, the deficits were too much to overcome. The Knights went on a 5-1 run to take a 20-15 lead in set two, went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-17 lead in set three, and a 6-1 run to take a 21-13 lead in set four.
Uncharacteristic mistakes haunted the Chargers throughout the match. Hillsdale entered the night with just 21 serve receive errors total in the previous 10 matches, but the Chargers committed 11 against the Knights, and Hillsdale was also in the net three times and committed 22 hitting errors.
While Gannon wasn't much more efficient at the net, hitting just .144 to Hillsdale's .146, the effects of those errors proved costly for the Chargers, including during those three runs that gave Gannon the edge in all three sets.
Freshman Maizie Brown was a bright spot for the Hillsdale offense on the night, finishing with 10 kills and a .667 hitting percentage, and also chipping in a solo block and four block assists.
Senior Allyssa Van Wienen chipped in nine kills, four block assists and six digs, and Karoline Shelton added nine kills, a solo block and three block assists as well.
Sophomore setter Madeline Zenas finished with 34 assists on the night for the Chargers, as well as five kills and nine digs, and Maggie Deporre chipped in five kills, two solo blocks and three block assists.
Defensively, freshman libero Alli Wiese led the Chargers with 26 digs, Audrey Riley chipped in 13 digs, and Madie Schider added nine digs and two service aces.
While the loss stings, it doesn't impact Hillsdale's goals of winning a fourth-straight G-MAC regular season championship. The Chargers host Findlay, one of two teams sitting a game behind Hillsdale in the conference standings, on Tuesday at 3 p.m. for their next match. A win in that match will put Hillsdale one victory away from clinching a share of the G-MAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming G-MAC tournament.
Photo by Anthony Lupi