THe Hillsdale College volleyball team wasn't perfect on the second and final day of the season-opening Rockhurst Invitational on Saturday in Kansas City.
But when it really mattered, the Chargers were tough enough to get the job done.
Hillsdale showed its grit in overcoming set deficits in both of its matches on Saturday, pulling out two five-set victories to clinch a 3-1 overall finish in its first tournament of the season.
Along the way, sophomore libero Alli Wiese earned All-Tournament team honors, and became just the 12th Charger in program history to surpass 1,000 digs for her career during the day's action. Wiese, who now has 1,014 total digs, joins her older sister Taylor in reaching the milestone, and sits just outside the top 10 all time with nearly three full seasons of eligibility remaining in her career.
Hillsdale 3, Missouri Western State 2
The Chargers opened the day by overcoming a two-set deficit in thrilling fashion to stun the Griffons, reverse sweeping Missouri Western with dominant fourth and fifth sets to take the victory.
The turning point for Hillsdale came in the third set. Backs against the wall after losing the first two sets 16-25 and 23-25, the Chargers dug deep and fought off two Missouri Western match points to stay alive, clinching the set 28-26 thanks to two late clutch kills by senior Karoline Shelton.
That strong finish not only kept the Chargers in the match but proved to be the momentum swing the Chargers needed to take control. Hillsdale blitzed Missouri Western in the fourth set, jumping out to a 12-3 lead and never looking back to roll to a 25-13 victory to force a deciding fifth set.
With the match on the line, the Chargers proved once again to be the stronger team, breaking a 7-7 deadlock and outscoring the Griffons 8-1 to close out the match with a 15-8 set five victory.
The Chargers overcame a rough start offensively to claim the victory, posting just seven kills and a 0.029 hitting percentage in the first set, but finishing with a combined 22 kills in the fourth and fifth set and hitting .353 at the net in the fourth.
A strong defensive performance at the net once again paid dividends for the Chargers, as Hillsdale finished the match with 14 total blocks. Sophomore Maizie Brown led Hillsdale's defensive efforts with another monster performance, finishing with two solo blocks and nine block assists to go with eight kills.
Offensively, Shelton led the way for the Chargers again with 15 kills and seven assists, and sophomore Marilyn Popplewell chipped in 12 kills and 11 digs as well. Senior Megan Kolp also finished with eight kills for Hillsdale.
Defensively, Wiese led Hillsdale with 20 digs, and sophomores Amanda Hilliker and Lauren Passaglia each chipped in 14. Passaglia, the Chargers' setter, also had a career-high 40 assists while directing Hillsdale's offense, along with two aces, three kills and three block assists. Sophomore Sydney Sahr chipped in six kills and three total blocks as well.
Hillsdale 3, Black Hills State 2
The Chargers wrapped up the invitational with another gritty five-set victory, once again overcoming a significant deficit in the process.
Hillsdale entered the fourth set trailing 2-1, and coming off a painful 25-13 loss to Black Hills State in the third set. But instead of cracking under the pressure, the Chargers proved their resilience, answering right back with a dominant set of their own and beating the Yellow Jackets 25-10 to force a fifth set. Hillsdale had 14 kills in the fourth and forced Black Hills St. into more attack errors than kills to take command.
The Chargers led throughout the fifth set but struggled to put a determined Yellow Jackets squad away. A big kill from Popplewell with the score at 11-10 gave Hillsdale the breathing room it needed, and kills from Kolp and Sahr put the match away.
Outside of the difficult third set, Hillsdale put together its best offensive performance of the tournament in the win over Black Hills State, hitting .222 or better in three of the five sets and finishing with 14 kills in both the first and fourth sets. Shelton was once again the leader for the Chargers offensively, finishing with a team-leading 14 kills, as well as 16 digs and four block assists, but the Chargers also got another strong outing from Brown, who added 10 kills to seven total blocks as the sophomore continued her dominant showing at the net so far in 2022.
Kolp chipped in six kills as well for the Chargers, and Sahr added five kills and five solo blocks.
Wiese led Hillsdale defensively with 19 digs, surpassing the 1,000 career digs mark in the second set with her sixth dig of the match, and freshman Emory Braswell chipped in four kills and a career-high 10 digs as well.
Passaglia had another solid all-around performance at setter for the Chargers, finishing with 33 assists as well as four kills, seven digs and four block assists.
The Chargers (3-1) play at home next on Thursday, when Hillsdale kicks off its home invitational at 6 p.m. with one of the biggest matches of the season. Hillsdale hosts 20th-ranked Ferris State, one of the top teams in the Midwest Region, in a rematch of the 2021 Midwest Regional title match that the Chargers won in four sets on Ferris State's home court. It's the first in a series of big matches next weekend in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena, as Hillsdale plays host to three other nationally ranked teams for 10 matches over three days.