Top-seeded Hillsdale made quick work of eight-seeded Ursuline in a G-MAC Quarterfinal match on Tuesday as the Chargers began their push for a fourth-straight conference tournament title on their home floor.
Junior Karoline Shelton led a balanced Charger attack with 14 kills, 11 digs and two blocks, finishing as one of six Hillsdale players with at least three kills on the night, to help the Chargers win 25-18, 25-22, 25-20 over the Arrows.
Maggie DePorre chipped in 10 kills and two blocks, and senior Alyssa Van Wienen added eight kills and two blocks for the Chargers as well.
Facing down a hard-hitting Ursuline squad, Hillsdale didn't overpower the Arrows, finishing with 44 kills to Ursuline's 38, but won by playing a much cleaner game, finishing with just 14 attack errors to the Arrows' 24 and hitting .268 to the Arrows' .111.
Sophomore Madeline Zenas had a strong night with 35 assists at setter for the Chargers, while senior Lindsey Mertz saw her first action since suffering a hand injury two weeks ago and chipped in five assists as well.
Freshman libero Alli Wiese led the Chargers with 28 digs and two service aces, and sophomore Audrey Riley chipped in seven digs and a service ace as well.
As the top seed in the tournament, Hillsdale will host both the semifinal and final rounds of the G-MAC Championships on Friday and Saturday this week.
The Chargers will play fourth-seeded Cedarville, which pulled out a narrow five-set win over fifth-seeded Ohio Dominican, at 5 p.m. on Friday in one semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Walsh will battle sixth-seeded Tiffin, which upset third-seed Findlay on the home floor in four sets to reach the semifinal round. The Cavaliers and Dragons will meet at 7:30 p.m.
The tournament championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.
Photo by Anthony Lupi