Schedule
Hillsdale (22-5, 14-2 G-MAC) at Malone (5-23, 3-13 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 | Osborne Hall | Canton, Ohio
Hillsdale (22-5, 14-2 G-MAC) at Tiffin (16-12, 10-7 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 | Gillmor Center | Tiffin, Ohio
Hillsdale (22-5, 14-2 G-MAC) at Findlay (14-3, 21-6 G-MAC) | 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11 | Croy Gymnasium | Findlay, Ohio
Follow/Watch
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Malone Roster | Tiffin Roster | Findlay Roster | 2023 Hillsdale Stats | 2023 Malone Stats | 2023 Tiffin Stats | 2023 Findlay Stats | G-MAC Standings
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #1 Audrey Riley, Sr., DS, Stillwater, OK/Stillwater (8th G-MAC in SA/S); #4 Alli Wiese, Jr., L/DS, Mattawan, MI/Mattawan (1st G-MAC in D/S, 2nd in SA/S); #8 Maizie Brown, Jr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (2nd G-MAC in hitting %, 4th in B/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Jr., S, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (4th G-MAC in A/S); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, So., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (5th G-MAC in K/S, 10th in hitting %)
Malone: #3 Macy McCauley, Jr., DS/L, North Canton, OH/Hoover (3rd G-MAC in D/S), #11 Gabby Rodriguez, Fr., OH, Alvordton, OH/Hilltop (1st Team in K/S); #13 Jaymes Gilbert, Fr., MH, Wooster, OH/Triway (1st Team in B/S); #15 Mallory Meinen, Fr., S, Akron, OH/Coventry (1st Team in A/S)
Tiffin: #3 Olivia Karhoff, Sr., OH/RS, Columbus, OH/Worthington Kilbourne (8th G-MAC in D/S); #8 Addison Conti, Jr., S/RS, Tiffin, OH/Columbian (7th G-MAC in A/S); #10 Kaylee Freund, So., MH, New Bremen, OH/New Bremen (1st G-MAC in B/S); #14 Kenedi Goon, Jr., OH/MH, Ashland, OH/Crestview (9th G-MAC in B/S, 1st Team in K/S)
Findlay: #2 Ava Doster, Jr., L/DS, New Haven, IN/New Haven (5th G-MAC in SA/S); #5 Kenzie Hoelscher, MH, So., Ft. Loramie, OH/Ft. Loramie (3rd G-MAC in hitting %, 9th in SA/S); #9 Emma White, So., S, Tiffin, OH/Calvert (1st G-MAC in A/S, 10th in SA/S); #11 Kirsten Bomholt, Fr., OH, Versailles, OH/Versailles (6th G-MAC in K/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Malone: After just missing the postseason in 2022 and graduating several key players, the Pioneers are playing with an extremely young team in 2023.
Malone's leaders in kills, blocks and assists are all true freshmen, as well as four of its top six in sets played. Among key contributors from last year's squad, All-G-MAC libero Macy McCauley and middle hitter Grace Rosko return but much of the rest of the Pioneers' rotation is made up of new faces.
That youth has led to some growing pains for the Pioneers, who are 5-21 overall and have struggled to generate consistent offense against the better teams on their schedule. Despite that record, there are signs of progress for the Pioneers, who took down both Lake Erie and Ursuline two weekends ago to nearly double their win total. Malone will take on Hillsdale for the second time in less than a week, this time on their home court, on Thursday.
Malone is coached by Rafael Gonzalez, who is in his third season as the head coach of the Pioneers and took over in 2021 after 19 years as an assistant at Malone.
Tiffin: Behind the chaos at the top, the Dragons have quietly put together a solid and impressive season, with a 10-7 mark in conference play, a strong chance to make the G-MAC Tourney, and likely finish with a winning record.
The Dragons had a solid start in nonconference play and have been consistently competitive against G-MAC opponents, thanks to an imposing front line. Tiffin has three of the top 10 players in blocks per set in the G-MAC entering the final week, led by explosive athlete and middle hitter Kaylee Freund, whose 1.08 blocks per set tops the conference.
Tiffin's extra points from its defense help supplement an offense led by outside hitters Wakaya Wilson and Kenedi Goon. Olivia Karhoff has been a solid backrow presence as well for the Dragons in 2023 after missing two seasons, leading the team in digs per set. Tiffin is in good shape entering the final week of the season, but would love to get a win over one of the top four teams in the conference entering the G-MAC Tourney.
The Dragons are coached Alexa Wharton, who's new to the program after several seasons as an assistant at DI University of Memphis and Wisconsin-Green Bay. A former standout at crosstown Heidelberg in Tiffin, Ohio, Wharton also coached at NCAA DIII powerhouse Wisconsin-Whitewater as well.
Findlay: At 14-3 in G-MAC play and with 21 wins overall, Findlay is having its best season since 2017 and is still in play for the North Division crown entering the final week of the regular season.
For the 2023 season, Findlay has embraced a youth movement, taking advantage of impressive starts offensively by freshmen outside hitters Kirsten Bomholt and Hannah Miller, along with strong second-year campaigns by sophomore middle hitters Alana Pohlman and Kenzie Hoelscher. Sophomore Emma White also is one of the G-MAC's top setters, currently leading the conference in assists.
Findlay has been red hot of late, with seven straight victories coming out of the Midwest Regional Crossover, and are in the NCAA Tournament conversation for the first time since 2017. The Oilers will need help but if the teams in front of them falter, they could still win a G-MAC title as well.
Findlay is coached by Wick Colchagoff, a coaching legend who surpassed 600 wins this season, and has eight conference titles and seven NCAA Tournament Appearances in his tenure with the Oilers.
Scouting the Chargers
An upset of undefeated Walsh this past weekend means Hillsdale has a real shot at snagging at least a share of the G-MAC North Division title, though the Chargers will need to win out and get help from another team to hand the Cavaliers a second loss to make it happen.
The Chargers return a deep and talented roster full of meaningful postseason experience in 2023 as it looks to 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. Wiese recently became just the third Charger to surpass 2,000 digs for her career and is on track to set the career record at Hillsdale as well.
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
- Junior libero Alli Wiese continues to assault the record books at Hillsdale for her position. A returning All-American from 2022, 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 is in third place in program history with 2,121 digs, and needs 131 digs to surpass her older sister, Taylor's, program career record of 2,251. With 177 service aces at Hillsdale, Wiese also ranks second all time in that stat behind career record holder Katie Keane's total of 219 set from 1994-97.
- Serving in general has been a key part of Hillsdale's success in 2023, as the Chargers have an impressive 204 service aces already this season, and set a program record for the 25-point rally scoring era with 18 aces in a sweep of Lake Erie earlier this season. The Chargers have seven players with double-digit service aces so far, including Wiese, who's on pace to break the single-season record with 50 service aces in 27 matches, and senior Audrey Riley, whose 33 is on pace to get in the top 10 for a single season. The Chargers' 2.15 service aces per set lead the G-MAC and are 19th nationally at the NCAA DII level.
- 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 on Sept. 8, 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 following that up by making the All-Midwest Region Crossover team in October.
- 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 2,080 career assists already rank 8th all-time in program history. 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.
- Junior Maizie Brown is having her best season to date, currently sitting in second in the G-MAC with 31 solo blocks at the net while also putting up career highs in both kills per set (1.98) and hitting percentage (.378). The three-time All-G-MAC honoree is a force at the net. Last season, in 2022, Brown put up 130 blocks, the sixth-most by a Charger in the 25-point, rally-scoring era, and her 106 block assists were seventh most in a season. Entering this weekend, she has 344 blocks for her career, seventh-most all-time at Hillsdale.
- 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 surpassed another milestone in Saturday's win over Ohio Dominican, becoming just the 12th active NCAA Division II head coach to reach 600 match wins for his career with a sweep of the Panthers. The legendary head coach is also moving closer to cracking the top 30 all-time wins list for the division as well.
- Hillsdale is 15-0 all time against Malone, dating back to their shared days in the GLIAC. The Chargers also have dominated the series with Tiffin, as Hillsdale leads 24-1 all time with the Dragons' lone win in the series coming in 2016. Hillsdale has been more competitive with Findlay, dating back to a long back-and-forth rivalry in the GLIAC that began in 1998. The Chargers lead 33-19 all-time, but the Oilers snapped a nine-game Hillsdale winning streak with a 3-2 victory earlier in October.