One of the most storied careers in Hillsdale College volleyball history was recognized today by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with the highest honor it can bestow on an athlete.
The G-MAC and Hillsdale College are pleased to announce that Allyssa Van Wienen is the 2022 female recipient of the G-MAC Collegiate Achievement Award. Just one male and one female athlete from the conference's 12 member and five associate member schools are honored with the Collegiate Achievement Award annually.
The Collegiate Achievement award is designed to acknowledge the most accomplished student-athlete in the league during the individual's time at a league member institution, taking into account athletic accomplishments, academic achievements, and impact on the larger university community.
Van Wienen is the second Charger athlete and first female athlete in Hillsdale College's five-year association with the G-MAC to be recognized. Individually, she's on the short list of greatest players in Charger volleyball history after a storied five-year career. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native is one of just two players in Hillsdale volleyball history to earn repeat consensus All-American honors, joining Ashlee Crowder, and the only player in program history to earn first-team all-conference honors in five consecutive seasons.
Breaking into the starting lineup almost immediately as a freshman, Van Wienen helped lead the Chargers to an unprecedented run of dominance in the G-MAC since Hillsdale joined the league in the fall of 2017. During Van Wienen's career, Hillsdale won five consecutive G-MAC regular season and tournament titles and put together a win streak in all conference regular season and postseason competitions that now sits at 85 straight matches entering the 2022 campaign.
Van Wienen has been a driving force during this run, earning the program's first-ever G-MAC Player of the Week award in its first weekend in the conference in 2017, and going on to rack up a record 13 more conference player of the week honors over the next five seasons.
After a historic 2019 season, where she helped lead the Chargers to a third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and just the program's third Midwest Regional Final appearance, Van Wienen not only was named the G-MAC Player of the Year but also the conference's Female Athlete of the Year, as well as earning first team All-American honors from both organizations that bestow the honor, the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association.
In her senior season in the fall of 2021, Van Wienen was a key part of the Chargers' second-ever NCAA DII Midwest Regional title and Elite Eight appearance, while also receiving All-American honors from the AVCA and D2CCA for the second time in her career.
Van Wienen's career numbers bear out just how special she was as a player at Hillsdale. She's the only Charger in program history to exceed both 1,400 kills and 400 blocks at Hillsdale, with her 1,449 kills ranking third all-time in Hillsdale history and her 420 blocks ranking fifth. Van Wienen's .427 hitting percentage as a junior in 2019 is the second best all-time for a single season in Charger history, and her 414 kills that season rank fourth all-time for Hillsdale players in a single season. In 2019, she was the only player in the country to rank in the top 15 in both kills and hitting percentage at the DII level.
Academically, Van Wienen made her mark as well. She graduated from Hillsdale in December of 2021 with honors with a degree in Exercise Science, after receiving Academic All-G-MAC recognition every semester of her career. She also earned back-to-back CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in 2020 and 2021 and in 2020 became just the second Hillsdale volleyball player to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Off the court, Van Wienen gave back to the community through the sport she loved, spending summers volunteering as a youth coach and camp instructor to help train the next generation of volleyball stars.
Van Wienen's passion for volleyball has led her naturally to the next stage of her journey with the sport. Shortly after the end of her collegiate career and he graduation from Hillsdale, Van Wienen accepted a position as an assistant coach with the Charger volleyball program under head coach Chris Gravel. She'll be on the sidelines this season looking to help the Chargers continue to live up to the expectations Van Wienen and her teammates set for the program over the last five seasons.
As an athlete, a student, and, most importantly, a human being, Allyssa Van Wienen has represented the best that Hillsdale College has to offer over her career here. Hillsdale College is proud to see her hard work and achievements as a Charger recognized with such a high honor, and we wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors.
Photo by Anthony Lupi