It's the final week of the regular season in volleyball, and the 18th-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team is once again on the cusp of something special.
The Chargers have already locked up the top seed in the upcoming G-MAC tournament and the G-MAC North Division title, and with two wins this weekend can run their G-MAC winning streak to 71 and conclude their fourth-straight undefeated season in conference play.
Hillsdale also will look to honor its five-player senior class on Saturday, in the last regular season home match of their careers. Maddie Clark, Maggie DePorre, Lindsey Mertz, Madie Schider and Allyssa Van Wienen have made history, set records and led the Chargers to tremendous accomplishments over the past five years, and are hoping to have a few more special moments before their careers come to a close in December.
The Chargers are also set to welcome back a variety of program alumni for the Saturday evening match against Ursuline, and it's also Report Card Day, which means that area students can get a reduced price on their tickets to Saturday's match by showing an A average on their report card at the ticket booth.
Schedule
Lake Erie (3-25, 1-13 G-MAC) at #19 Hillsdale (23-4, 14-0 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Ursuline (9-17, 5-9 G-MAC) at #19 Hillsdale (23-4, 14-0 G-MAC) | 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Follow/Watch
Live Stats vs Lake Erie | Video vs Lake Erie | Tickets vs Lake Erie | Live Stats vs Ursuline | Video vs Ursuline | Tickets vs Ursuline
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Lake Erie Roster | Ursuline Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats |2021 Lake Erie Stats | 2021 Ursuline Stats
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #7 Karoline Shelton, Jr., OH, Shawnee, KS/Mission South (5th G-MAC in K/S, 5th in P/S, 6th in D/S); #9 Allyssa Van Wienen, Sr., MH, Grand Rapids, MI/Christian (1st G-MAC in B/S, 10th in K/S, 7th in P/S, 6th in hitting %); #4 Alli Wiese, Fr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (2nd G-MAC in D/S, 4th in SA/S), #15 Lindsey Mertz, Sr., S, Frankenmuth, MI/Frankenmuth (1st G-MAC in A/S)
Lake Erie: #7 Dora Olah, Jr., RS, God, Hungary/Berzsenyi Daniel (9th G-MAC in SA/S); #2 Simone Schurr, Fr., S, Plainfield, Ill/Oswego East (9th G-MAC in A/S); #18 Kariema Rodriguez, Sr., OH, Naanjito, Puerto Rico/College of Central Florida (leads Storm in D/S); #3 Juliana Krebasch, So., MH, Wood Dale, IL/Fenton (leads Storm in B/S);
Ursuline: #12 Devin Gerth, Jr., OH, Elimira, Ontario, Canada/Elmira District (4th G-MAC in K/S, 4th in P/S); #10 Sarah Miozzi, Sr., S, Willoughby, OH/Lakeland Community College (8th G-MAC in A/S); #5 Leah LaPinta, Sr., DS/L, Olmsted Falls, OH/Olmsted Falls (5th G-MAC in D/S); #16 Maleah Gibbons, Fr., MB, Akron, OH/CVCA (leads Ursuline in B/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Lake Erie: The Storm have had a difficult season as the rebuild continues at Lake Erie under a new coaching regime. Lake Erie has struggled offensively and defensively, ranking at or near the bottom in the G-MAC in most offensive and defensive categories.
The Storm do have one of the conference's best servers and a solid hitter in junior Dora Olah, and some promising freshmen players who have gotten plenty of early playing time to try and develop for the future.
While Lake Erie has struggled to a 1-13 mark, the Storm have been more competitive than in the Spring of 2021, earning a conference win over Kentucky Wesleyan and taking a set or more in six other league matches.
The Storm are coached by Lee Anderson, in his first year with the program. A 21-year veteran at the college level, Anderson came to Lake Erie from Edinboro, and has also coached at Minnesota-Crookston in the past.
Ursuline: While it won't be enough to get the Arrows back to the G-MAC tournament, Ursuline has quietly been one of the more competitive teams on the outside looking in for the conference this season.
The Arrows have pulled a couple of shocking upsets and remain dangerous entering the final week of the season.
Ursuline a big weapon in outside hitter Devin Gerth, who's been one of the most effective attackers in the G-MAC this season, and have solid supporting hitters in Nora Clink, Abigail Ayala-Aguilera and freshman Maleah Gibbons.
Ursuline has been middle-of-the-pack in the G-MAC both offensively and defensively, sitting in ninth in hitting percentage and seventh in opponent hitting percentage, but are looking for a big finish to the season this weekend.
Ursuline is coached by Calaeb Campbell, who is in his third season with the program. Campbell came to the Arrows after several seasons as an assistant at Division I Youngstown St. and Southeast Missouri State.
Scouting the Chargers
Hillsdale accomplished one of its goals for the season on Friday, sweeping rival Findlay to lock up a fifth straight G-MAC regular season crown in winning the North Division championship, as well as the right to host the upcoming G-MAC Tournament semifinals and finals.
The Chargers now look to wrap up a fourth-straight undefeated regular season in G-MAC play with two more wins this weekend.
Hillsdale has its sights set on a fifth-straight G-MAC tournament title, 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 26th 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 38th consecutive week on Nov. 8, 2021, coming in at 18th after starting the season 13th. 38 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, Nov. 10. 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.
- The Chargers are honoring a five-player senior class that's accomplished special things at Hillsdale this weekend. Together, the group – Allyssa Van Wienen, Lindsey Mertz, Madie Schider, Maddie Clark and Maggie DePorre, has a combined record of 124-22 entering this weekend, and have won five G-MAC regular season titles, four G-MAC tournament titles, and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program's third-ever Midwest Regional final appearance. The group has earned an All-American honor, an Academic All-American honor, a G-MAC Player of the Year honor, nine All-G-MAC honors and six All-Midwest Region honors.
- 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 4,890 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 11.41 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 27th in Division II in digs per set with 5.36. Her 488 digs in the season so far are already in the top 10 all-time for a single season at Hillsdale with at least three matches remaining in the year. She's also a strong server and currently sits fourth in the G-MAC with 0.38 aces per set, and 35 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 1.08 blocks per set and tied for fifth in total solo blocks with 28. 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 tied for third all-time in program history in kills (1,366) with former All-American Taryn Rudland after Friday's match, and also sixth among Chargers all-time in total blocks, with 403.
- Junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton became just the 11th player in Hillsdale history to surpass 1,000 digs for her career earlier in the season, and now has 1,073 entering this weekend. 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 984 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.