2022 CSC Academic All-District Volleyball Teams
It's been another impressive season for the Hillsdale College volleyball team, which won a sixth-straight G-MAC Tournament title and made its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament in 2022.
The Chargers also stood out in a big way in the classroom, as well, with two sophomores bringing home a prestigious honor for their achievements on and off the court on Tuesday afternoon with the announcement of the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District teams for volleyball.
The CSC Academic All-America® program began in 1952 and has awarded teams since then, seeking out student athletes with an impressive blend of academic and athletic success. Being named to an All-District team is the first step in the process, and requires an athlete holds a 3.5 or better GPA and is an important contributor on the court. Both sophomore outside hitter Marilyn Popplewell and sophomore libero Alli Wiese met those exacting standards to be recognized by the program for the first time.
Popplewell first broke out for the Chargers in their 2021 NCAA Tournament run as a true freshman, but made good on the promise of that four-match showing as a sophomore this season, earning first-team All-G-MAC honors as an outside hitter. Her 393 kills for the season were second on the team and the eighth-most in a single season all-time at Hillsdale during the 25-point, rally score era beginning in 2008. She once again starred in the NCAA Tournament for the Chargers in 2022, breaking the program's single-match record for kills with 28 in a five-set upset of second-seeded Lewis in the opening round.
Off the court, Popplewell is one of the top students in her class at Hillsdale College, earning the Grace Nichole Outstanding Freshman Prize last spring for her standing in her class, as well as receiving the Rick Foreign Language Scholarship and the Muniz Spanish Scholarship from Hillsdale. She's currently working on degrees in both Biology and Spanish.
Wiese, a first-team All-G-MAC player as well in 2022, had one of the finest seasons for a back-row player in Hillsdale College history, breaking her own single-season program record in digs with 721 and becoming the first Charger ever in program history with 700+ digs in a single campaign. She also tied the program record for digs in a single match with 40 in four sets against Walsh on Nov. 4, and finished with 55 service aces, the second-most all-time in a single season in program history. She's already fifth in Hillsdale history in career digs with 1,655, and on pace to break the program record held by her older sister, Taylor, of 2,251 next year.
Off the court, Wiese has consistently had one of the top GPAs of any volleyball player at Hillsdale College over the past three years, making the Dean's List every semester and posting a perfect 4.0 GPA in two of the four semesters.
As part of being selected to the All-District team, all five players are now eligible for Academic All-American honors through CSC. Members will vote through December 6 with the three Academic All-American teams slated to be announced of Tuesday, Dec. 21 at noon.