The Hillsdale College volleyball team capped an unusual spring season with their fourth-straight G-MAC regular season and tournament titles in March.
But thanks to the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the season isn't quite done yet.
With no NCAA tournament for Division II volleyball this year, the AVCA put together an alternative, invite-only meet in Dallas, Texas bringing together some of the nation's best teams to compete in what, in an ordinary year, would be one of the most stacked tournaments of the season.
Nearly half of the 13 team field is ranked in the top 20 in the most recent AVCA poll, including four in the top 10, led by fourth-ranked Hillsdale. Over four days in Dallas, Hillsdale will get a chance to compete against Elite Eight-caliber opponents in a championship environment, an experience that should prove helpful for the fall season to come.
You can pay to watch all the action in Dallas via FloTV, linked below. There are also limited tickets available at the Dallas Convention Center for each day of competition, with adult tickets costing $8 and tickets for seniors and children under 12 costing $5.
Schedule
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs Flagler (15-3, 13-1 Peach Belt) | Wednesday, April 14, 9 A.M. CT | Court 3, Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Pool Play
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs Wingate (11-1, 8-1 SAC) | Wednesday, April 14, 5 P.M. CT | Court 3, Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Pool Play
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs TBA | Thursday, April 15, TBA | Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Pool Play Crossover
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs TBA | Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m. | Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Gold Bracket
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs TBA | Friday, April 16, TBA | Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Gold/Silver Bracket Semifinals
#4 Hillsdale (16-1, 11-0 G-MAC) vs TBA | Saturday, April 17, TBA | Dallas Convention Center | Dallas, Texas – Gold/Silver Bracket Finals
Follow/Watch
Watch on FloTV (requires paid subscription) | Tickets for sale on-site
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | Flagler Roster | 2021 Flagler Stats | Wingate Roster | 2021 Wingate Stats
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #9 Allyssa Van Wienen, Sr., MH, Grand Rapids, MI/Christian (1st Team All-G-MAC); #7 Karoline Shelton, Jr., OH, Shawnee, KS/Mission South (1st Team All-G-MAC, G-MAC Player of the Year); #4 Alli Wiese, Fr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (1st Team All-G-MAC), #8 Maizie Brown, Fr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (1st Team All-G-MAC)
Flagler: #2 Rebecca Machovec, Jr., OH, Dacula, GA/Mill Creek, Eckerd College (2nd on team in K/S, 2.77); #14 Kennedy Muff, So., S, Bristol, WI/Wetosha Central (leads team in A/S with 9.45); #1 Karolina Garstka, Fr., L, Lodz, Poland/SMS Szczyrk (leads team in D/S, 3.76); #7 Logan Garcia, Jr., MH, Ocala, FL/Trinity Catholic (leads team in B/S, 0.94)
Wingate: #11 Reese Blackley, Jr., OH, Winston, GA/Alexander (leads team in K/S, 3.14); #4 Shannon Kasprak, Jr., S, Austin, TX/Bowie (leads team in A/S, 10.89); #1 Courtney Niesen, Sr., DS/L, Cincinnati, OH/Bacon (leads team in D/S, 5.57); #14 Sophie Schaff, Sr., MB, League City, TX/Clear Falls (leads team in B/S, 1.18)
Scouting the Opening Match
Flagler: Although the Saints aren't one of the seven ranked teams in the tournament, they're still a formidable opponent in their own right. Flagler has been a strong program since officially joining NCAA Division II in 2008, winning four Peach Belt Conference titles in the last 10 years, making seven NCAA Tournament appearances and reaching the Division II Elite Eight three times, most recently in 2017.
The Saints are 15-3 on the year and currently 13-1 in the Peach Belt, having already wrapped up the conference regular season title this past week. Flagler lost its only two matches against a ranked team this year, taking 19th-ranked Tampa to five sets on Feb. 23 and were swept in a return match against the Spartans on Feb. 26.
Flagler is led up front by junior outside hitter Rebecca Machovec and junior middle hitter Logan Garcia, who are the team's two most consistent sources of offense. Setter Kennedy Muff also has a notably high kill total for her positions and senior Jordan Taylor and junior Victoria Bowrosen also contribute in a relatively balanced offense.
Defensively, libero Karolina Garstka leads the way for the Saints with 3.76 digs per set, and Machovec and Muff are also important contributors.
Flagler is coached by Matt Affolder, who is in his seventh season leading the Saints after several years as an assistant coach at the Division I level. During Affolder's tenure, Flagler has won four Peach Belt titles and made four NCAA tournament appearances, with a Southeast Regional title in 2017.
Hillsdale: Currently ranked fourth in Division II, Hillsdale captured its fourth straight G-MAC regular season and tournament titles this spring and are 16-1 overall.
The last two G-MAC Players of the Year, 2019 honoree and senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen and 2021 honoree and junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton have been a lethal 1-2 punch for the Chargers, combining for 377 kills between the two of them in seventeen matches and both holding hitting percentages of .308 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. Eight Chargers averaged 1 or more kills per set in the team's seventeen matches.
The Chargers also have played extremely clean volleyball so far, with their lone loss to Gannon the notable exception. Hillsdale has a kill to attack error ratio of 3.2 in the seventeen matches it's played, and has committed just 39 service errors and 62 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 eight conference regular season titles, seven 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
- While it's not the NCAA Tournament, the AVCA Division II National Tournament is certainly an impressive collection of programs, with six teams in the top 20 of the most recent AVCA Division II poll and two more honorable mention squads among 13 competitors. Hillsdale leads the way with the No. 4 ranking, and the tournament also features Angelo State (T6th), Harding (T6th), Gannon (9th), Texas-Tyler (12th) and Tampa (19th), as well as honorable mention schools Arkansas-Fort Smith and Flagler. Unranked Texas A&M International, Ashland, Henderson State and Texas Woman's University round out the field.
- Senior Allyssa Van Wienen has broken into the top 10 in program history in both kills and blocks this season. Van Wienen currently sits in seventh all-time in career blocks with 304, 28 behind sixth-place Katherine Jones ('06), and she's ninth in kills with 1,103, 22 behind eighth-place Clara Leutheuser. Van Wienen is one of just four players in program history (Leutheuser, Leslie Koppelman and Taryn Rudland) to reach 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in her career.
- It was shorter than most seasons in school history, but junior Karoline Shelton still had one for the ages this spring. In 17 matches, Shelton set new career highs in both kills and digs in a match, recorded nine double-doubles, and was named AVCA Division II Player of the Week (Jan. 24-30). Her kills per set average of 3.80 was fifth best for a single season in program history, and she continued a streak of four straight years of Hillsdale players being named G-MAC Player of the Year by earning the award this spring.
- Senior setter Lindsey Mertz has flown under the radar at times in her career, but she's assembling a statistical case to be the most accomplished setter in Hillsdale history. At 3,977 assists for her career, Mertz is about to become the fourth player in Charger history to reach 4,000, and needs just 663 assists to pass Stephanie Booms ('09) for the program's all-time record.
- It's rare for a team with as much experience as Hillsdale to see two freshmen emerge as budding stars, but Alli Wiese and Maizie Brown are no ordinary freshmen. The two players each earned first-team All-G-MAC honors in their first season with the Chargers, and Wiese posted the third highest digs per set average for a single season in Hillsdale history (5.44). Brown's .322 hitting percentage just missed the top 10 in the 25-point rally scoring era and she was a significant contributor both offensively (1.72 k/s) and defensively (0.78 b/s) for the Charger cause.