Box Score

The first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference home contest did not go as planned for the Hillsdale College volleyball team.

The Chargers got off to a roaring start, but could not sustain its level of play in set 1, eventually losing to defending conference champion Cedarville University 3-1 before more than 500 fans in the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. Hillsdale is now 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference, and will host Ohio Dominican at 1:00 Saturday.

Hillsdale played inspired, energetic volleyball in an opening set it dominated. Excellent play in all areas led to a 25-16 win in the opening set. But the Yellow Jackets responded in impressive fashion from there, improving their serve receive passing, blocking and defense throughout the final three sets. Cedarville took home wins of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15 to clinch its first-ever win over Hillsdale.

Cedarville, the G-MAC's top blocking team, put that skill on display in the win, generating 15 blocks as a team, greatly improving on its seaosn-to-date average of 2-plus per set. Led by reigning conference player of the year Gabby Olson (12 block assists in the match), Cedarville stymied the Hillsdale offense throughout the last three sets.

The Chargers hit just .144 as a team compared to .297 for the Yellow Jackets. Cedarville's defense and passing also improved as the match wore on, frustrating the Chargers.

Junior Paige VanderWall and freshman Allyssa Van Wienen led Hillsdale's offense with 11 kills apiece. Van Wienen  hit .409 for the match while VanderWall added 10 digs and a service ace.

Sophomore libero Taylor Wiese had 19 digs while freshman Lindsey Mertz added 39 assists.