Preview: #19 Chargers look to wrap up G-MAC North title with win over rival Findlay

Schedule

Findlay (14-7, 10-3 G-MAC) at #19 Hillsdale (22-4, 13-0 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI

Follow/Watch

Live Stats vs Findlay | Video vs Findlay | Tickets vs Findlay

Additional Info

Hillsdale Roster | Findlay Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | 2021 Findlay Stats

Players to Watch

Hillsdale:  #7 Karoline Shelton, Jr., OH, Shawnee, KS/Mission South (5^th G-MAC in K/S, 5^th in P/S, 5^th in D/S, 10^th in hitting %); #9 Allyssa Van Wienen, Sr., MH, Grand Rapids, MI/Christian (1^st G-MAC in B/S, 10^th in K/S, 6^th in P/S, 6^th in hitting %); #4 Alli Wiese, Fr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (1^st G-MAC in D/S, 6^th in SA/S), #15 Lindsey Mertz, Sr., S, Frankenmuth, MI/Frankenmuth (1^st G-MAC in A/S)

Findlay: #10 Journey Blevins, Fr., OH, Richwood, OH/North Union (1^st G-MAC in K/S, 2^nd in P/S, 9^th in Hitting %); #9 Abigail Schroeder, Sr., S, Pemberville, OH/Eastwood (2^nd G-MAC in A/S, 2^nd in SA/S); #6 Ashton Terrill, Sr., DS/L, Prospect, OH/Highland, Northern Kentucky University (6^th G-MAC in D/S, 7^th in SA/S); #15 Emma Meyer, Jr., MH, Anna, OH/Anna (1^st G-MAC in hitting %)

Scouting the Opposition

Findlay: With a win over G-MAC South leader Ashland, Findlay looks like the next best team to Hillsdale and the Chargers' biggest threat to their hopes of a fifth-straight title in the upcoming G-MAC tournament.

Freshman outside hitter Journey Blevins has been the most prolific offensive player in the G-MAC to date, leading the conference in kills per set while hitting .282 while libero and Division I transfer Ashton Terrill has helped make Findlay one of the best defensive teams in the league as well.

On paper, the Oilers look competitive with the Chargers. The two teams are the top two G-MAC squads in hitting percentage and kills, and Findlay's .234 hitting percentage is just a razor-thin margin behind Hillsdale's .242.

The Chargers swept the Oilers on the road at their first meeting earlier in the season, and with a three game lead in the standings, likely can't be caught by Findlay for the G-MAC North title regardless of the outcome of Friday's match. But the Oilers will be looking to build confidence heading into a possible rematch in the G-MAC Tournament final.

Findlay is coached by respected veteran Wick Colchagoff, who is in his 24^th season and has led the Oilers to seven conference titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances. After a couple of relative down years in 2018 and 2019, Colchagoff has reloaded the Oilers with a team that will look to add to those accomplishments this fall.

Scouting the Chargers

Hillsdale locked up a share of the G-MAC North Division crown with sweeps of Malone and Walsh this past weekend, and are one win away from clinching the top seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament as well as the outright crown. A win over rival Findlay this Friday would do the trick.

Hillsdale has its sights set on its fifth-straight G-MAC regular season and tournament titles, and also on a deep NCAA Tournament run after not having the opportunity to compete in the tourney last year due to covid-19.

The Chargers return every player that saw action in the partial spring 2021 season, including four players who were slated to graduate in the spring of 2021 but who couldn't pass up the opportunity to make one more run at NCAA glory after a Covid-19 waiver was extended to preserve their eligibility.

That core group of unprecedented fifth-year players – Allyssa Van Wienen, Lindsey Mertz, Madie Schider and Maddie Clark – is just the tip of the iceberg on a loaded and talented roster that may be the deepest in Hillsdale College history.

Van Wienen, a consensus 2019 All-American and the 2019 G-MAC Player of the Year, is joined up front by junior Karoline Shelton, who was the G-MAC Player of the Year in the 2021 spring season, along with a host of past All-G-MAC honorees – senior Maggie DePorre, sophomore Megan Kolp, and freshman Maizie Brown (who played with the Chargers in the spring) – to give Hillsdale a formidable group of hitters.

The decorated Mertz, who's on track to set the Charger program's career assists record, conducts the offense from the setter position, and Hillsdale proved in the spring it has a capable backup in Madeline Zenas, who was named to the All-G-MAC third team after filling in for Mertz following an injury.

In the back row, Schider, top 10 in program history in digs, is joined by sophomore Audrey Riley and freshman Alli Wiese, a breakout star at libero who earned first-team All-G-MAC honors in the spring, to give the Chargers an elite back row.

Returning Chargers at all positions will be pushed by a strong and talented five-player freshman class which has the skill and the determination to contribute early on, the way Brown and Wiese did in the spring of 2021.

Coaching the Chargers for the 26^th 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

• Hillsdale was ranked in the AVCA DII Top 25 poll for the 37th consecutive week on Nov. 1, 2021, coming in at 19^th after starting the season 13^th. 37 weeks in the poll is a program record for consecutive weeks as a ranked team, surpassing the longest previous stretch in program history from 2006-2008.
• The Chargers also debuted at third in the Midwest Region in the initial NCAA Division II Regional Rankings on Wednesday. Hillsdale is behind current top-ranked Michigan Tech and second-place Ferris State after losses to the Huskies and Bulldogs, but ahead of Lewis and Missouri St. Louis, both of whom it beat earlier in the year. There will be two more regional rankings each of the next two Wednesdays before the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on Monday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
• With a sweep of Tiffin last Saturday, the Chargers surpassed the 20-win mark for the fifth season in a row, and the sixth time in the past seven years. In head coach Chris Gravel's 26-year tenure, this is the 15^th time the Chargers have surpassed the 20-win mark. Five straight seasons of 20 or more wins is the longest stretch in program history, surpassing the previous record of four set from 1980-83.
• Charger senior Lindsey Mertz achieved something special earlier this season, breaking Hillsdale's career record for assists set by Stephanie Booms from 2004-08. Mertz, who has 4,820 assists for her career, already set the Charger single-season school record for assists with 1,264 in 2019, and is among the national leaders for setters once again, currently ranking sixth in Division II with 11.39 assists per set. Mertz also became the first Charger to make the Midwest Crossover All-Tournament team three times in her career, adding to honors received in 2017 and 2018.
• Defensively, libero Alli Wiese continues to shine after a strong start, earning G-MAC North Division Player of the Week honors for the second straight week and the fourth time this season on Wednesday. A spring 2021 first-team All-G-MAC player, Wiese is first in the G-MAC and is 27^th in Division II in digs per set with 5.41. Her 476 digs in the season so far are already in the top 10 all-time for a single season at Hillsdale with at least four matches remaining in the year. She's also a strong server and currently sits sixth in the G-MAC with 0.38 aces per set, and 33 total on the season.
• Senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen is among the national leaders in blocks per set, currently sitting in the top 50 in Division II with 1.06 blocks per set and tied for fifth in total solo blocks with 27. Both an All-American (in 2019) and an Academic All-American (in spring 2021), Van Wienen continues to climb the career statistical ranks at Hillsdale, sitting in fourth place all-time in program history in kills with 1,354 after passing former teammate Kara Vyletel this weekend, and also sixth among Chargers all-time in total blocks, with 398.
• Junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton became just the 11^th player in Hillsdale history to surpass 1,000 digs for her career against Ashland last Friday, and now has 1,063 entering Tuesday night. The Shawnee, Kansas native had a break-out campaign in the spring 2021 season, earning G-MAC Player of the Year honors and leading the Chargers in kills. Shelton's all-around versatility is impressive – with 970 kills in her career so far to go along with those digs, she's rapidly closing in on becoming just the second player in program history with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career with another season of eligibility remaining after this one.