Volleyball is back in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena this weekend, as the 18th-ranked Hillsdale College Chargers host conference and divisional rivals Malone and Walsh to kick off the fall 2021 home slate.
The Chargers open on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the Pioneers, and face the Cavaliers in a Saturday afternoon contest. Tickets are available to watch the matches in person, or you can catch the action from home on our live streams.
Schedule
Malone (4-5, 0-0 G-MAC) vs #18 Hillsdale (6-2, 0-0 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Walsh (4-3, 0-0 G-MAC) vs #18 Hillsdale (2-2, 0-0 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Follow/Watch
Live Stats vs Malone | Video vs Malone | Live Stats vs Walsh | Video vs Walsh | Tickets
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Malone Roster | Walsh Roster | 2021 Hillsdale Stats | 2021 Malone Stats | 2021 Walsh Stats
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #7 Karoline Shelton, Jr., OH, Shawnee, KS/Mission South (6th G-MAC in K/S, 7th in P/S, 8th in D/S, 10th in hitting %); #9 Allyssa Van Wienen, Sr., MH, Grand Rapids, MI/Christian (1st G-MAC in B/S, 2nd in P/S, 5th in hitting %); #4 Alli Wiese, Fr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (1st G-MAC in D/S), #15 Lindsey Mertz, Sr., S, Frankenmuth, MI/Frankenmuth (1st G-MAC in A/S)
Malone: #16 Ri’Gyn Humes, Jr., MH, Tampa, FL/Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate, University of Tampa (7th G-MAC in hitting %); #8 Molly Bullion, So., S, Bellevue, OH/Bellevue (9th G-MAC in SA/S); #11 Kristen Hankins, Jr., MH, Farmington Hills, MI/Harrison (6th G-MAC in B/S); #2 Hallie Pinkerton, So., DS/L, Chillicothe, OH/Unioto (6th G-MAC in D/S)
Walsh: #2 Olivia Maczuzak, Jr., OH, Concord, OH/Riverside (4th in G-MAC K/S, 6th P/S); #8 Olivia Kearns, So., S, Lexington, OH/Lexington (4th in G-MAC in A/S, 5th SA/S); #9 Amber King, Sr., MB, Broadview Heights, OH/Brecksville-Broadview Heights (2nd in G-MAC in B/S); #18 Sam Wentz, Sr, DS/L, Copley, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban (9th in G-MAC in D/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Malone: Picked to finish fifth in the G-MAC North Division in the preseason coaches poll, the Pioneers have shown promising signs early in the season of being capable of exceeding expectations and competing for one of the six G-MAC tourney berths.
Malone has some promising hitters up front, led by returning All-G-MAC third team honoree Anna Mallette and two players mentioned above, middle blockers Ri’Gyn Humes and Kristen Hankins. Freshman outside hitter Macy McCauley also is off to a strong start, and provides another weapon up front for the Pioneers. Setter Molly Bullion and libero Sam Wentz also play important roles for Malone.
The Pioneers are among the league leaders in successful digs and service aces as a team so far, and league average in kills and blocks, but have struggled with inefficiency offensively, with just a .118 hitting percentage, good for 10th in the G-MAC as a team.
Malone is coached by Rafael Gonzalez, who is in his first season coaching the Pioneers. A long-time assistant at Malone, Gonzalez served under former coach Tanya Hockman for 19 seasons and took the head job when Hockman was named Malone’s Director of Athletics this past spring.
Walsh: The regular-season runner-up to Hillsdale in the G-MAC in the spring 2021 season, the Cavaliers were picked to finish just behind the Chargers in the North Division in the fall and represent one of the biggest threats to Hillsdale’s four-year run of dominance in the G-MAC.
The Cavaliers return three first team All-G-MAC players from last year’s squad -- one of the conference’s top attacking threats in junior outside hitter Olivia Maczuzak, imposing junior middle blocker Grace Lindquist, and sophomore setter Olivia Kearns.
Two more returners earned second-team All-G-MAC honors, as seniors Amber King and Alexis Gilland combine with Maczuzak and Lindquist to give Walsh a front row that few other programs in the G-MAC can match.
The Cavaliers have yet to play to their full potential this season in a 4-3 start, but if Walsh can find that level under head coach Jayme Plummer, they’ll be a tough out for anyone in the Midwest Region.
Scouting the Chargers
The Chargers got back on track at the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach last weekend, sweeping through four quality opponents without allowing a single foe to reach 20 points in any of the 12 sets.
That helped Hillsdale improve to 6-2 on the year, the best overall record in the G-MAC North Division to date, and remain ranked 18th in the AVCA Division II poll this week.
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 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 comes in at 18th in Division II in the Sept. 13 edition of the AVCA Top 25 poll for the second straight week after starting the season 13th. The Chargers have now been ranked for 30 consecutive weeks, matching the longest previous stretch in program history from 2006-2008.
- Charger senior Lindsey Mertz is among the national leaders for setters once again – as she has been several times in her five-year career. Mertz currently ranks third in Division II in assists per set with 11.85, just .2 out of first place. The Frankenmuth, Michigan native holds the single-season school record for assists (1,264) set in 2019, and is currently third in career assists with 4,285, 355 behind school record holder Stephanie Booms. If she maintains her current pace, Mertz should overtake Booms for the school record in mid-October.
- Hillsdale freshman Alli Wiese had a brilliant weekend in Florida, earning Outstanding Libero honors for the tournament and also being named the G-MAC North Division Defensive Player of the week after averaging 5.83 digs per set in four Charger wins. A spring 2021 first-team All-G-MAC player, Wiese is among the national leaders in Division II, currently sitting tied for 23rd in digs per set with 5.50 two weeks into the season.
- Senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen is among the national leaders in blocks per set early on, currently sitting in 16th in Division II with 1.29 after the first two weekends. 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, moving past Becky Grzegorski this past weekend into sixth place all-time in program history in kills with 1,190. She’s also sixth among Chargers all-time in total blocks, with 347 after this weekend.
- Junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton had another excellent weekend at the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach, earning Tournament MVP honors after leading the Chargers to a 4-0 record. 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 765 kills and 796 digs in her career so far, 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 two seasons of eligibility remaining.