Schedule
RV Hillsdale (2-2, 0-0 G-MAC) vs Indiana (PA) (3-1, 0-0 PSAC) | 5 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 7 | Croy Gymnasium| Findlay, OH
RV Hillsdale (2-2, 0-0 G-MAC) vs Wayne State (2-2, 0-0 GLIAC) | 3 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 8 | Croy Gymnasium| Findlay, OH
RV Hillsdale (2-2, 0-0 G-MAC) vs Bloomsburg (0-3, 0-0 PSAC) | 9 a.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 9 | Croy Gymnasium| Findlay, OH
RV Hillsdale (2-2, 0-0 G-MAC) vs Saginaw Valley St. (2-2, 0-0 GLIAC) | 3 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 9 | 9 a.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 9 | Croy Gymnasium| Findlay, OH
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | IUP Roster | Wayne St. Roster | Bloomsburg Roster | SVSU Roster | 2023 Hillsdale Stats | 2023 IUP Stats | 2023 Wayne St. Stats | 2023 Bloomsburg Stats | 2023 SVSU Stats
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #2 Megan Kolp, Sr., MH/RS, Petoskey, MI/Petoskey (2x All-G-MAC); #4 Alli Wiese, Jr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (2022 AVCA HM All-American; AVCA All-Region; 3x All-G-MAC); #8 Maizie Brown, Jr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (3x All-G-MAC); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Jr., S, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (2022 3rd TM All-G-MAC, 2023 All-UP Open Team) #13 Marilyn Popplewell, So., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (2022 1st Team All-G-MAC, 2023 All-UP Open Team)
Indiana (PA): #4 Kat Warpinski, Sr., UT, Edina, Minnesota/Edina/Loyola-Chicago (leads team in A/S); #7 Lauren Valentic, Sr., MH, Canonsburg, PA/Peters Twp./Buffalo (2022 AVCA All-Region, 1st TM All-PSAC West); #13 Caroline Walsh, Sr., MH, Nazareth, PA/Nazareth Area (2022 2nd TM All-PSAC West); #21 Bailey Flowerdew, Sr., DS, Mason, OH/Mason (leads team in D/S)
Wayne St.: #5 Kayla Dulgar, Fr., S, Warsaw, OH/River View (leads team in A/S, 2023 All-Ferris Invite Team); #6 Kendyl Andrews, So., DS/L, Flushing, MI/Flushing (leads team in D/S); #11 Kayla Giroux, So., MB, Flat Rock, MI/Flat Rock (2022 AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year, 1st TM All-GLIAC); #17 Molly Miller, Jr., OH, Oxford, MI/Oxford/Madonna (leads team in K/S)
Bloomsburg: #2 Tayla Miller, So., DS, Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte (leads team in D/S); #8 Elise Adelman, Fr., S, Pataskala, OH/Watkins Memorial (leads team in A/S); #9 Liz Bopp, Sr., MB, St. Ebensburg, PA/Central Cambria (2022 2nd TM All-PSAC East); #10 Emma Antigua, So., OH, Kimball, MN/Kimball (2023 All-Vulcan Invite Team)
Saginaw Valley St.: #4 Kelsey Vittitow, Jr., L/DS, Bay City, MI/Saginaw Valley Lutheran (leads team in D/S); #9 Makaylah Roberts, Jr., MH, Bay City, MI/Western (2023 All-Clarion Invite); #10 McKenna Sovis, Sr., S, Owosso, MI/Owosso (leads team in A/S); #12 Madison Thompson, Jr., Reese, MI/Reese (2022 2nd TM All-GLIAC, 2023 All-Clarion Invite)
Scouting the Opposition
Hillsdale College travels to Findlay Ohio this weekend to play in the Findlay Classic in the program's final set of non-conference matches before G-MAC play begins.
The Chargers play in the first match in the entire event on Thursday night and against perhaps its stiffest competition of the weekend against an Indiana (PA) that enters 2023 fresh off a season where the Crimson Hawks made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. IUP got the season off to a strong start with a 3-1 record at the PSAC East Kickoff Tournament last weekend, and return a strong core that includes 2022 AVCA All-Region middle blocker Lauren Valentic and All-PSAC West middle blocker Caroline Walsh.
Those two players combined with a strong back row to give the Crimson Hawks one of the best defenses in the Atlantic Region in 2023, and will give the Chargers a test to kick off the Findlay Classic.
The next day, Hillsdale takes on an in-region opponent in Wayne State in an afternoon match that has implications for both team's NCAA Tourney hopes down the road. Long an also-ran in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Warriors have built up their program to new heights in recent years, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly two decades in 2021 and winning 19 matches in 2022.
Wayne State suffered significant graduation losses from last year's squad but bring back a strong core, led by defending AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year and middle hitter Kayla Giroux, as well as sophomore libero Kendyl Andrews. Freshman setter Kayla Dulgar and Madonna transfer Molly Miller have combined to give the Warriors some offensive punch in a 2-2 start that included wins over two G-MAC opponents last weekend at Ferris State.
The Chargers open up their third day of competition on Saturday with a morning match against Bloomsburg. The Huskies started their program in 2017 and are looking for their first winning season in program history after finishing 6-21 in 2022. Bloomsburg got the season off to a frustrating start at the Vulcan Invite last weekend, going 0-3 after dropping three straight five-set heartbreakers.
The Huskies will lean on returning senior Liz Bopp, an All-PSAC East middle blocker in 2022, to lead a young lineup that includes promising sophomore Emma Antigua, who put up big numbers last weekend, and freshman setter Elise Adelman.
Hillsdale finishes off the weekend with another important regional match on Saturday afternoon against Saginaw Valley State. The Cardinals, usually one of the better teams in the GLIAC, are looking to bounce back after a rough 2022 season that saw SVSU fall to 10-20 overall. SVSU got off to a decent start this past weekend, going 2-2 and taking traditional Atlantic Region power Clarion to five sets in a competitive loss.
The Cardinals have some firepower back up front, led by returning All-GLIAC honoree and outside hitter Madison Thompson, the focus of SVSU's offense. The Cardinals have a deep rotation that spreads the ball around and should test Hillsdale's back line on Saturday.
Scouting the Chargers
Hillsdale enters the 2023 season in the midst of the longest run of sustained success in program history. As a new campaign gets under way, there's no indication that that run is going to end any time soon.
The Chargers return a deep and talented roster full of meaningful postseason experience in 2023 as it looks to reclaim the G-MAC regular season title, defend its G-MAC Tournament title, and earn what would be its sixth straight NCAA DII Midwest Regional appearance, and seventh in eight seasons.
Five All-G-MAC players return for Hillsdale in 2023, led by junior libero Alli Wiese, who earned AVCA honorable mention All-American honors in 2022 while also setting single-season and single-match program records for digs.
The Chargers also return a bevy of attacking talent up front, including multi-time G-MAC honorees Maizie Brown and Megan Kolp in the middle, and junior Marilyn Popplewell, a first-team All-G-MAC honoree in 2022 who set a new program record for kills in a single match in Hillsdale's NCAA Tournament upset of second-seeded Lewis last November.
Directing the attack is junior setter Lauren Passaglia, who earned All-G-MAC honors in her first full season as a starter and could make a big leap in 2023 with a season's worth of action under her belt.
The Chargers do have a big hole to fill with the graduation of two-time All-American Karoline Shelton, who was an all-around force for Hillsdale, but a deep bench means the Chargers have the luxury of replacing her production with multiple players. Up front, sophomores Emory Braswell and Adi Sysum are among several attackers who could shine in bigger roles, while in the back row, returning defensive specialists Audrey Riley and Amanda Hilliker, as well as redshirt freshman Chloe Pierce, all look ready to handle a larger workload.
Coaching the Chargers for the 28th 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 nine conference regular season titles, nine conference tournament titles, made 14 NCAA Division II tournament appearances, won the Midwest Regional title in 2011 and 2021, and reached the NCAA DII Final Four in 2011 while making the Elite Eight round in 2021.
Other Notes
- Hillsdale received votes in the AVCA DII Top 25 Poll for the second straight weekend after going 2-2 at the season-opening UP Open. The Chargers are one of eight Midwest Region teams to be ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll, and the only G-MAC squad. The Chargers also were the top vote-getter in the 2023 G-MAC Preseason Coaches poll, and named the favorite to win the North Division.
- The Chargers enter the 2023 season looking to extend their dominance of the G-MAC for another campaign. Hillsdale has won five of the last six regular season titles and six G-MAC tournament titles in a row since joining the conference in 2017, and are 87-4 all-time in G-MAC regular season matches, as well as a perfect 17-0 in G-MAC Tournament matches.
- Already an All-American and a record-setting player for the Chargers, junior libero Alli Wiese is on the cusp of rewriting Hillsdale's record books at her position. Already the program's single-season record-holder in digs (721 in 2022) and tied for the single match record (40 against Walsh on Nov. 4, 2022), Wiese needs 524 digs in 2023 to surpass her older sister, Taylor's, program career record of 2,251. That's a mark she's exceeded in each of her past two seasons with the Chargers. With 136 aces in three seasons at Hillsdale, Wiese also has a shot at breaking the Chargers' career record of 219 set by Katie Keane from 1994-97 as well before her career is done.
- Marilyn Popplewell was a breakout player in Hillsdale's run to the Elite Eight as a freshman in 2021, leading the Chargers with 18 kills in Hillsdale's Midwest Regional championship victory over Ferris State. She built off that performance in a big way as a sophomore, earning first-team All-G-MAC honors, putting up the eighth-most kills in a single season (393) in Chargers history and breaking Hillsdale's single-match record with 28 kills in Hillsdale's five-set upset win over second-seeded Lewis in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Popplewell has gotten the 2023 season off to a great start, leading the Chargers in kills this past weekend with 51 at the UP Open and earning All-UP Open Tournament Team honors for her performance.
- Setter Lauren Passaglia had a strong season in 2022 in her first time in the starting role, finishing with 1,175 assists, the fifth most by a Charger in a single season in the history of the rally-score, side out era. Her 1,390 career assists already rank 9th all-time in program history and she has a shot to move up the list considerably over the next season. Passaglia is already off to a hot start, earning All-Tournament team honors for her performance at the UP Open this past weekend.
- Seniors Audrey Riley and Megan Kolp originally planned to graduate after the 2022 season, but both decided in the spring to use the extra year of eligibility they received from the Covid-19 pandemic to return for a fifth season. Both players are multi-year contributors for the Chargers and will be an important part of Hillsdale's squad in 2023.
- Family ties play an interesting role for the Hillsdale College volleyball team this year, with several players following in the footsteps of family members who played Charger athletics. Five Hillsdale players have older siblings who are or were Chargers – libero Chloe Pierce's older sister, Sophia, is a former Hillsdale women's basketball player, front row player Adi Sysum is the younger sister of former women's basketball player Arianna Sysum, and setter Josie TeSlaa is the younger sister of former Charger football player Isaac TeSlaa. Wiese is following in the footsteps of her older sister, Taylor, who was Hillsdale's starting libero for four years from 2016-2019. There's also a pair of siblings who are both currently on the roster for the Chargers, as freshman Greta Wise joins her older sister, Jaclyn, on the squad as well.
- Already the winningest coach in Hillsdale College history across all sports, Chris Gravel is fast approaching another historic wins milestone. The 28-year head coaching veteran is just 16 wins away from reaching 600 wins for his career, and could reach the milestone by as early as October. Just 10 active coaches at the NCAA DII level have over 600 wins, meaning Gravel would be entering a very exclusive club by reaching the milestone.
- Hillsdale has history with three of the four opponents in this weekend's invitational. The Chargers were long-time conference foes with both Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State before joining the G-MAC in 2017. Hillsdale has an 18-5 record since 2002 against Wayne State, but lost their most recent match against the Warriors in 2016. Hillsdale and SVSU also played on a yearly basis from the foundation of both programs in the 70s until 2016. The Chargers have played IUP twice, winning in sweeps in both matches, most recently in 2019, while this is the first time Hillsdale has ever played Bloomsburg, who first started a women's volleyball program in 2017.