Schedule
#8 Cedarville (15-15, 10-9 G-MAC) at Hillsdale (24-6, 16-3 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, Michigan
Follow/Watch
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Cedarville Roster | 2023 Hillsdale Stats | 2023 Cedarville Stats | G-MAC Championship Central
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #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 (1st G-MAC in Hitting %, 2nd in B/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Jr., S, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (3rd G-MAC in A/S); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, So., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (5th G-MAC in K/S, 10th in Hitting %)
Cedarville: #3 Kaley Matney, So., S, Fort Wayne, IN/Carroll (5th G-MAC in A/S); #4 Janae Heegard, So., MH, Sycamore, IL/Homeschooled (10th G-MAC in B/S); #12 Madelyn Hensley, Fr., OH, Dover, DE/Homeschooled (2nd G-MAC in K/S, 9th in hitting %); #15 Cassi Shields, So., OH, Westminster, MD/Westminster (1st G-MAC in SA/S)
Scouting the Opposition
Cedarville: It's been nearly two full months since Hillsdale last faced Cedarville in a match that ended in a Chargers sweep. Since that time, Cedarville went through a rough midseason patch that included losses in eight of 10 matches that nearly knocked them out of the G-MAC Tournament entirely. But a strong finish that included four straight victories punched their ticket and kept their season going.
Cedarville returns three All-G-MAC players from 2022 in setter Kaley Matney and outside hitters Cassi Shields and Haley Koch, all sophomores. The Yellow Jackets did lose an All-G-MAC talent in Riley Hensley, but have replaced her with her younger sister, freshman Madelyn Hensley, without a missing a beat. The 6-3 outside hitter has been one of the best attackers in the conference all season long and one of the most dynamic offensive weapons any team has. Veteran libero Talia Felton leads the back row defense for Cedarville.
The Yellow Jackets are coached by Greg Smith, who is in his sixth season after arriving at Cedarville with 20-plus years of experience at the NCAA DI level with Toledo and Virginia Tech. Smith has kept the Yellow Jackets competitive in his first five seasons but is hoping for his first true breakthrough campaign in 2023.
Scouting the Chargers
After a bunch of ups and downs in a twisty, topsy-turvy season, Hillsdale College enters the 2023 G-MAC Tournament exactly where it hoped it would be – with a G-MAC regular season championship and the top seed in the tourney.
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 10 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
- No team has dominated the G-MAC Tournament like Hillsdale, who is the top seed entering this year's edition. The Chargers have won every G-MAC Tournament title since joining the conference in 2017, six straight in total, and have a perfect 17-0 record in G-MAC tourney matches. Prior to Hillsdale's arrival, however, the Chargers' quarterfinal opponent was the original power team in the G-MAC, as Cedarville had won four of five tournament titles from 2012 to 2016 before the Chargers joined the league.
- Senior libero Alli Wiese continues to assault the record books at Hillsdale for her position, after breaking the single-season record for service aces at Hillsdale with her 58th against Findlay last Saturday. 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 second place in program history with 2,188 digs, and needs 64 digs to surpass her older sister, Taylor's, program career record of 2,251. With 185 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.
- Junior Maizie Brown also broke an impressive record this weekend, surpassing the program's single-season record for solo blocks of 39 set by Lauren Grover in 2022 against Findlay. Brown is now up to 42 solo blocks entering the G-MAC Tourney and is having her best season to date, putting up career highs in both kills per set (2.12) and hitting percentage (.374). 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 360 blocks for her career, seventh-most all-time at Hillsdale.
- Serving in general has been a key part of Hillsdale's success in 2023, as the Chargers have an impressive 221 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, the new single-season record holder at Hillsdale, and senior Audrey Riley, whose 34 is close to a spot in the top 10 for a single season. The Chargers' 2.08 service aces per set are second in the G-MAC and are 30th nationally at the NCAA DII level, and Hillsdale will face off on Tuesday against the G-MAC leader and 13th place team in the nation, Cedarville (2.19).
- 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 2,182 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.
- 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 12-2 all-time against Cedarville, with a 3-0 sweep of the Yellowjackets on Sept. 20 earlier this year the most recent meeting between the two squads. Cedarville is one of only two teams to have beaten the Chargers multiple times in G-MAC play, most recently a 3-2 victory in 2022.