Box Score

The path to its 12th consecutive appearance in the GLIAC Tournament got a little more complicated for the Hillsdale College volleyball team Friday night.

The Chargers suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of the host Ashland University Eagles in Ohio, dropping them to 9-8 in the conference. Ohio Dominican and Malone both won, joining the Eagles with 10-7 marks in GLIAC play.

As of Friday night, Hillsdale is on the outside looking in, sitting in ninth place in the GLIAC. The top eight teams qualify for the GLIAC Tournament.

However, there is a path to the postseason that's open for the Chargers. It starts with a win over Lake Erie College Saturday. Lose, and Hillsdale is out. But a win is the first ingredient in keeping this impressive postseason streak alive.

Malone plays Ohio Dominican and Ashland plays Findlay Saturday in matches that are extremely important to the Chargers. Hillsdale wins all tiebreakers with Malone, based on its win over the Pioneers on Oct. 31, so the Chargers will be hoping for ODU to beat Malone.

Hillsdale also wins a tiebreaker with Ashland. If Findlay defeats Ashland Saturday, the Eagles will be left with an 0-2 record against the South Division champion Oilers in the regular season. Hillsdale split with Findlay this season, the Chargers' Sept. 23 3-0 win providing the necessary difference in that tiebreaking scenario.

However, if Ashland should beat Findlay, or Malone defeats Ohio Dominican, it won't matter what Hillsdale does against Lake Erie. The Chargers lose a tiebreaker with ODU, based on the Panthers' 3-2 win over Hillsdale back on Oct. 24.

In Friday's loss, the Chargers opened up strong with a 25-17 win in the first set, hitting .407. But they could not match that execution level in any other set, losing by scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-17.

Senior Lindsay Kostrzewa had an effective match for Hillsdale with 8 kills and 4 total blocks. Junior Jordan Denmark had a team-high 9 kills, and junior Emily Wolfert had 7 kills.

Four players cracked double figures in digs, led by Jessie Kopmeyer's 15. Junior Marissa Owen had 29 assists and 11 digs for the Chargers.