It took everything the Hillsdale College volleyball team had -- but the Chargers are still dancing.
Hillsdale, the seventh seed in the Midwest Regional, overcame multiple fifth-set deficits, fought off four match points, and got a record-breaking performance to shock second-seeded and favored Lewis, 25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25, 20-18 in an instant classic that will go down as one of the most thrilling victories in the long and storied history of Charger volleyball.
While the Flyers were the higher seed and the favorite to advance after winning the GLVC Tournament last weekend, the G-MAC tournament champion Chargers entered Thursday's contest with confidence. Earlier in the season, at the Midwest Regional Crossover, the Chargers had had Lewis on the ropes, up two sets to none, before the Flyers rallied to snatch a five-set victory in a tight 15-11 final set for a critical regional win.
Hillsdale may have lost that match, but the big edge the Chargers built and the tight scores both gave Hillsdale confidence that the Flyers were beatable, and motivated the Chargers to finish the job if they ran into Lewis again down the road.
That's exactly what happened on Thursday in the NCAA DII Midwest Regional opener for both teams. Tied at two sets apiece entering the fifth set, the Chargers once again fell behind the Flyers late, but this time refused to yield, battling back to tie the match at 13-all, and then again at 14-all, 15-all, 16-all and 17-all each time Lewis took what looked like a decisive lead.
Tied again at 18-all, Hillsdale sophomore Marilyn Popplewell powered down a kill through a Lewis double-block to give the Chargers a 19-18 edge, and when Lewis' kill attempt went long on the next point, the Chargers advanced.
Popplewell was huge all night for the Chargers in a career performance that marked the single-biggest difference between Hillsdale's regular season loss to Lewis and their victory over the Flyers on Thursday. At the Crossover, Popplewell hit just .130 with 12 kills against Lewis, but in the NCAAs elevated her game in a major way, dominating the match with a career-best 28 kills on a .290 hitting percentage.
In doing so, Popplewell broke Hillsdale's program record for kills in a single match during the 25-point rally scoring era, set by Paige VanderWall against Ashland in 2018. Every one them proved critical for the Chargers in the victory.
While Popplewell was the standout with a history-making performance, she was far from the only crucial player for the Chargers. Refusing to let her decorated five-year career come to an end, senior Karoline Shelton posted a double-double with 16 kills and 17 digs as well. Shelton turned up her game in a big way in the fifth and deciding set, with a team-best six kills in the tiebreaker to help the Chargers take the match.
Fellow senior Megan Kolp added 13 kills and two total blocks as well in a strong performance for the Chargers, while middle hitters Sydney Sahr and Maizie Brown combined for 15 kills to give the Chargers productive offense out of the middle.
In order to pull out the victory, Hillsdale also got sensational play from its back row, especially in the fifth set, when Shelton and libero Alli Wiese each made several match-saving plays during those four match points. Wiese, statistically one of the top liberos not just in the Midwest Region but in the country, had another stellar outing with 38 digs, just two shy of the single-match record shared by her and her older sister Taylor. Senior Audrey Riley chipped in 11 digs, and sophomore Amy Buffini added nine as well.
Last, but not least, in one of the finest performances of her young career, sophomore setter Lauren Passaglia tied her career high with 59 assists and added a career-best 20 digs to keep the Chargers on track.
Hillsdale improves to 28-6 on the season and advances to the regional semifinal round for the third consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Chargers play again on Friday at 5 p.m. against third-seeded Ferris State in a rematch of last year's 2021 Midwest Regional final, which the Chargers won in four sets to advance to the Elite Eight. Hillsdale also beat the Bulldogs in four earlier this year, but Ferris State also enters the match on a role, having won 10 straight and capturing both the GLIAC regular season and tournament championships.
If Hillsdale can get the victory, they would advance to the Midwest Regional final for the third consecutive year, a feat that's never been accomplished in program history.
Photo by Denny Sinnock, Quincy Athletics