Schedule
Ursuline (0-8, 0-0 G-MAC) at RV Hillsdale (6-2, 0-0 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Lake Erie (1-7, 0-0 G-MAC) at RV Hillsdale (6-2, 0-0 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Ursuline Roster | Lake Erie Roster | | 2023 Hillsdale Stats | 2023 Ursuline Stats | 2023 Lake Erie Stats | G-MAC Standings
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #4 Alli Wiese, Jr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (3rd G-MAC in D/S, 10th in SA/S); #10 Emory Braswell, So., OH, Atoka, TN/Tipton Christian (10th G-MAC in K/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Jr., S, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (5th G-MAC in A/S); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, So., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (6th G-MAC in K/S, 10th in Hitting %)
Ursuline: #6 Mya Jackson, Fr., DS, Pataskala, OH/Watkins Memorial (1st team in D/S); #8 Hannah Laurich, So., S, Novelty, OH/West Geauga (1st Team in A/S); #9 Magdalene Johnson, Fr., MB, Columbus, OH/Bishop Watterson (1st Team in B/S); #13 Amie McCarthy, So., OP, Parma, OH/Trinity (1st Team in K/S)
Lake Erie: #2 Brooklyn Broadway, Jr., DS/L, Edwardsburg, MI/Edwardsburg (1st team in D/S); #7 Dora Olah, Sr., RS, God, Pest, Hungary/Berzsenyi Daniel (4th G-MAC in K/S, 5th in SA/S); #11 Jessica Ickes, So., MH, North Canton, OH/Lake Center Christian (1st Team in B/S); #15 Sarah Leyden, Jr., S, Cuyahoga Falls, OH/Archbishop Hoban/Muskingum (1st Team in A/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Ursuline: After a season of adjustment in Pepper Pike, the rebuild of the Arrows program has begun in earnest in head coach Haley Paonessa's second season at the helm.
With five freshmen, four sophomores and no seniors on the roster, Ursuline has turned 2023 into a season for youth, as the Arrows get young players on the court and look to begin building a competitive core for future seasons.
That's led to some rough moments in the here and now, as Ursuline has started the season 0-8 and have yet to win a set on the season, but the hope is that the experience for freshmen and sophomores will pay dividends down the road.
Already, freshman Amie McCarthy has shown promise as an attacker, while libero Mya Jackson and setter Hannah Laurich have also started to settle into their roles. Friday's contest against one of the top teams in the Midwest Region will be another learning experience for this developing group.
Ursuline is coached by Paonessa, who is in her second season with the Arrows after previous head coaching stops at Montreat College and Holy Name College. An alum of Indiana Tech, Paonessa played defensive specialist for the Warriors for four seasons.
Lake Erie: After a five-year absence from the G-MAC Tournament, the Storm are hoping a battle-tested group of experienced returners can help Lake Erie make a leap up the G-MAC standings in 2023.
The Storm return several multi-year starters from its 2022 squad this season, led by fifth-year senior right side hitter Dora Olah, who's been the program's top hitter for the last two seasons and is one of the top players in the G-MAC in both kills and service aces so far.
Lake Erie has been a decent defensive team in 2023 despite a 1-7 mark but will need to give Olah more support offensively to close out victories in G-MAC play. Seniors Anna Lewis and Alexandra Matthews will be especially important, as will finding a primary setter among Simone Schurr, Jenna Sayles and Sarah Leyden, all of whom have seen the floor so far for the Storm.
Lee Anderson is in his third season coaching the Lake Erie volleyball program, following a successful stint as a head coach at Edinboro and 12 years as the head coach at Minnesota-Crookston and Glenville State.
Scouting the Chargers
Hillsdale enters the 2023 season in the midst of the longest run of sustained success in program history. The Chargers are off to another strong start in 2023 looking to continue that run, opening with a 6-2 record that includes four victories over Midwest Regional opponents.
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 third straight weekend after a 6-2 start. The Chargers are one of nine Midwest Region teams to be ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll, and one of three G-MAC squads. 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. Wiese is 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). She needs 457 digs to surpass her older sister, Taylor's, program career record of 2,251, a mark she's on pace to reach this season. With 142 service aces 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. Wiese has already received recognition this season, earning the Outstanding Libero award at the Findlay Classic, as well as G-MAC North Division Defensive Player of the Week honors this past Monday.
- Marilyn Popplewell already held one single-match record for the Chargers in her career after totaling 28 kills in Hillsdale's five set victory over second-seeded Lewis in last season's NCAA DII Tournament. She added a second record this past weekend, serving up eight aces in a four-set win over Wayne State at the Findlay Classic to surpass the previous record of six. A first-team All-G-MAC player in 2022, Popplewell has been even better so far in 2023, leading the Chargers in kills, earning back-to-back All-Tournament team honors at Hillsdale's two season-opening tournaments, and being named G-MAC North Division Offensive Player of the Week this past Monday.
- 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 1,560 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 off to a hot start, earning All-Tournament team honors for her performances at both the UP Open and the Findlay Classic to start the season.
- 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 Wise, 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 12 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.
- The Chargers have dominated their all-time series with this weekend's opponents, as Hillsdale is a perfect 20-0 all-time against Lake Erie since first playing the Storm in 2008, and 10- 0 against Ursuline since their first meeting in 2017.