The 20th-ranked Hillsdale College volleyball team ran its winning streak in G-MAC regular season matches to 73 and opened the 2022 conference season undefeated with a sweep of host Ursuline on Sunday.
The Chargers led nearly wire-to-wire in all three sets, taking 25-13, 25-18 and 25-20 victories to down the Arrows and improve to 9-2 on the season, 2-0 in G-MAC play.
Hillsdale was the superior hitting team at the net, with a 0.225 hitting percentage and 38 kills in the match, including 12 or more kills in all three sets, while holding Ursuline to 0.065 hitting at the net with 21 attack errors to pull away.
Much like the previous day's sweep of Lake Erie, Hillsdale was able to get significant playing time for virtually all of its roster, with everyone dressed appearing in at least one set for the Chargers.
Sophomore Marilyn Popplewell led Hillsdale at the net with eight kills, senior Karoline Shelton chipped in six kills and six digs, and sophomore Maizie Brown, sophomore Lauren Passaglia and freshman Emory Braswell each chipped in four kills as well, as 11 different Chargers finished with at least one kill in the contest.
Defensively, sophomore libero Alli Wiese led the Chargers with 17 digs, Passaglia chipped in 10 digs and senior Megan Kolp added three block assists. Senior Audrey Riley also finished with a team high three service aces for Hillsdale.
The Chargers' long road swing continues next weekend, as Hillsdale travels to Malone on Friday and Walsh on Saturday for two critical G-MAC North Division conference matches. While three other teams with unblemished conference records remain in the G-MAC outside of Hillsdale, two of them are in the North Division -- Northwood and Findlay -- making it critical that the Chargers take care of business to stay in first place in the divisional race.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan