The Hillsdale College volleyball team pulled off a huge five-set victory to open a busy week on Wednesday night, taking down fellow G-MAC unbeaten Northwood in a close battle to improve to 3-0 in conference play.
Forced to a deciding fifth set after Northwood battled back from a 2-0 deficit with set three and set four wins, the Chargers never trailed in set five, scoring six of the final seven points to close out the match with a 15-9 victory. Senior Megan Kolp was huge for the Chargers in the fifth set and throughout the match, putting up three kills in that seven-point span to help close out the victory. Kolp had arguably the best match of her career as an attacker, putting up a career-high 19 kills on a .412 hitting percentage with five block assists.
The match was a tense, hard-fought affair throughout, with 28 tie scores and 12 lead changes in the match. Hillsdale put together strong finishes in both the first and second sets to take 25-23 and 25-18 victories to take a two set lead in the match, but Northwood bounced back with a strong set three in a 25-19 victory. The fourth set was close the entire way, going to extra points. Hillsdale had three match points with a chance to close out the match in the fourth set, but Northwood was able to pull away for a 28-26 victory to force the fifth set.
The victory was an impressive showing of winning on the margins for the Chargers, who were technically outhit at the net by Northwood in the match -- 60 kills to 52, and a .171 hitting percentage for the Timberwolves to a .149 hitting percentage for the Chargers. But Hillsdale counteracted that by out-serving Northwood with six aces to the Timberwolves' two, and with a dominant defensive performance at the net, finishing with 15 total blocks. Those extra points from serving and defense made up for the offensive difference between the two programs.
Along with Kolp's strong performance, Hillsdale also got a huge night from junior Maizie Brown, who finished with six kills, three solo blocks and seven block assists in the victory. Brown, coming off being named the G-MAC North Division Defensive Player of the Week last week, matched her 10 blocks from last weekend's matches in one go against the Timberwolves.
Emory Braswell added 11 kills and nine digs for the Chargers, and Marilyn Popplewell chipped in seven kills as well. Alli Wiese led the Chargers defensively with 24 digs, and Audrey Riley added seven digs.
Junior setter Lauren Passaglia had a great all-around match, with 42 assists, three kills, three service aces, three blocks and six digs. Sydney Sahr added four kills and four total blocks as well.
Hillsdale (9-2, 3-0 G-MAC) will continue a critical week with another big match against a G-MAC unbeaten on Friday when Cedarville comes to town. The match against the Yellowjackets will be a special matinee, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, and will be a White Out contest tied in with the weekend's homecoming festivities.