As the season gets deeper into November, wins become bigger and bigger. Such was the case for the Hillsdale College volleyball team.

The Chargers broke a second-place tie in the GLIAC South Division with Ashland University thanks to a 3-1 home win in front of a big and raucous crowd Friday night at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. The win puts the Chargers at 21-6 overall and 13-4 in the GLIAC, while Ashland fell to 12-5 in conference play.

Hillsdale has won 6 straight matches.

The match was closely played throughout, as Hillsdale's offensive balanced was sometimes countered by Ashland's aggressive serving. The Chargers got out to a 2-0 lead thanks to wins of 25-21 and 25-22. Ashland took control late in set 3, winning 25-19. However, Hillsdale came back with a strong start to set 4 and made it stand in a 25-18 win to clinch the match.

The Eagles sport one of the GLIAC's best hitters, Alli Cudworth, but the Chargers keyed on her defensively throughout the match. Cudworth led her team with 13 kills, but Hillsdale's defense forced her into 11 hitting errors, which added up to a .037 hitting percentage for the match.

On the other side of the net, Charger senior Emily Wolfert delivered time after time when called upon, leading the team with 13 kills to go with a .333 hitting percentage. She and junior Erin Holsinger combined for 9 block assists in the match, providing crucial points for Hillsdale.

Freshman Paige VanderWall followed up with 12 kills, a solo block and 3 block assists, while freshman Kara Vyletel and senior Haylee Booms tacked on 8 kills apiece.

Senior setter Marissa Owen was on target all night, handing out 28 assists with 6 digs. Freshman Taylor Bennett had 15 assists and 4 digs, while sophomore libero Brittany Jandasek was tough on the back line with a team-high 25 digs.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Ashland hit .342 in the only set it won, set 3, but hit .000 in set 4, with 9 kills and 9 errors as a team…The Eagles had 9 service aces, but[BM1] [BM2]  committed 10 service errors…Hillsdale had a 9-point advantage in serving errors in the match (10-1)… A win Saturday would likely clinch a first-round home GLIAC Tournament match for the Chargers, the first time that's happened since 2011.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Klopfer