Schedule
RV Hillsdale (19-3, 12-1 G-MAC) at Walsh (17-10, 10-4 G-MAC) | 6 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 15 | Cecchini  Center | North Canton, OH
RV Hillsdale (19-3, 12-1 G-MAC) at Malone (5-22, 2-12 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 16 | Osborne Hall | Canton, OH
 
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Walsh Roster | Malone Roster | Hillsdale Stats | Walsh Stats | Malone Stats |  G-MAC Stats | G-MAC Standings
 
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #6 Amanda Hilliker, Sr., L/DS, Byron Center, MI/Byron Center (7th G-MAC in D/S); #8 Maizie Brown, Sr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (7th G-MAC in B/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Sr., S/OH, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (6th G-MAC in A/S, 7th in Hitting %); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, Sr., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (4th G-MAC in K/S, 2nd in P/S, 3rd in SA/S)
 
Walsh: #2 Jayme Zoeckler, Sr., S, Northfield, OH/Trinity/Notre Dame College (5th G-MAC in A/S); #7 Arora Levengood, Sr., DS/L, Bolivar, OH/Tusky Valley (3rd G-MAC in D/S); #11 Sydney Dixon, Sr., OH, Valparaiso, IN/Boone Grove (10th G-MAC in K/S, 9^th in P/S); #13 Sammie DiBease, Jr., OH, Perry, OH/Perry (1st G-MAC in K/S, 1^st in P/S)
 
Malone: #3 Macy McCauley, Sr., DS, North Canton, OH/Hoover (2nd G-MAC in D/S); #8 Emma Weirich, Fr., OH, Massilon, OH/Perry (2^nd TM in K/S); #14 Gabby Pelfrey, Sr., S, Fishers, IN/Fishers (1st TM in A/S, SA/S); #16 Brianne Salinas, So., MH, St. John, IN/Lake Central (1^st TM in K/S, B/S)

 
Scouting the Opposition
Walsh: One of the top teams in the G-MAC this season, the Cavaliers likely cannot win the G-MAC East Division title but are still playing for seeding in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament this weekend.

Walsh has two potent weapons offensively in outside hitters Sammie DiBease and Sydney Dixon, with DiBease currently leading the G-MAC in kills per set and Dixon in the top 10. The Cavaliers are a little bit top-heavy offensively, but senior Anna West is another solid offensive contributor up front as well. West and Elizabeth Bauer make up the team's middle rotation.

Senior Arora Levengood, the team's libero, is a key holdover from the Cavaliers squad that won a share of the program's first G-MAC title last season and one of the top liberos in the G-MAC in digs per set, while Notre Dame College transfer Jayme Zoeckler has seized the setter job for Walsh as well.

The Cavaliers have shown throughout the season that they can play with anybody in the Midwest Region, but have struggled to finish matches against teams with winning records, with some painful late losses to top teams. In order to upset the Chargers, Walsh will have to be on point from start to finish on Friday night.
 
Malone: The final contest of the regular season is a Malone team that's struggled in 2024 and currently is in the basement of the G-MAC East Division.

The Pioneers enter the weekend with a 12-match losing streak and have struggled to get traction offensively, ranking 11^th in kills per set, assists per set and hitting percentage in the G-MAC.

Malone does have arguably one of the G-MAC's top liberos in multi-year starter Macy McCauley, whose 5.58 digs per set rank second in the conference. Offensively, sophomore middle hitter Brianne Salinas is the only Pioneer at or above two kills per set and also leads Malone in blocks per set. Emma Weirich, Grace Rosko and Jaymes Gilbert are also important front-row players for the Pioneers, while Gabby Pelfrey, Mallory Meinen and Helaina Edgar all split setting duties for Malone.
 
 
Scouting the Chargers
Hillsdale clinched at least a share of both the G-MAC regular season title and the North Division crown with a dominant sweep of division foes this past weekend, and can lock up the outright titles in both with one win this weekend.

The Chargers return a deep and talented roster full of meaningful postseason experience in 2024 as they look to capture their eighth-straight G-MAC Tournament title, win their seventh regular season title in eight seasons, and earn what would be their seventh straight NCAA DII Midwest Regional appearance, and eighth in nine seasons.

Hillsdale has a ton of experienced attacking talent up from to work with, led by returning honorable mention All-American Marilyn Popplewell, who holds the program's single-match records for both kills and digs and is entering her fourth season as a significant contributor. Hillsdale has another strong veteran in the middle in senior Maizie Brown, the 2023 G-MAC Tournament MVP and a four-time All-G-MAC player who's back for a fifth season. Along with those two veteran stalwarts, outside hitters Marcelina Gorny and Greta Wise and middles Sydney Sahr and Adi Sysum give Hillsdale plenty of talented options up front.

Directing the attack for the third straight season is senior setter and two-time All-G-MAC honoree Lauren Passaglia. The talented left-hander's hitting chops and versatility allow Hillsdale to flow freely into a variety of offensive sets and make the Chargers difficult to defend. Junior Josie TeSlaa also plays setter for Hillsdale and can play at the same time as Passaglia, giving the Chargers an impressive array of options when the ball is on their side of the court. A group of talented freshmen that includes four gifted attacking players improve Hillsdale's depth even further.

While Hillsdale's front row is loaded, the Chargers do have a big hole to fill with the graduation of libero Alli Wiese, who rewrote the Hillsdale record book for her position and became the first libero to earn conference Player of the Year honors in 2023. While that level of production will be tough to replace, Hillsdale has talented and experienced options to fill in the gap, including senior Amanda Hilliker, who played significant time in 2023, as well as sophomore Chloe Pierce and TeSlaa.

Coaching the Chargers for the 29^th 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, 10 conference tournament titles, made 15 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

• With one week remaining in the regular season, Hillsdale has clinched a G-MAC Tournament berth and will guarantee itself the top seed and hosting rights for the tournament with a victory in either of the two matches this weekend. If Hillsdale is the #1 seed, they will host the #8 seed in a quarterfinal on Tuesday. Currently the #8 seed is Lake Erie, though both Thomas More and Tiffin are close behind and could overtake the Storm for the final spot with wins in the final weekend.
• Chris Gravel reached an important milestone last season with his 600^th career coaching victory, all at Hillsdale, and is one of just 12 active coaches at the NCAA DII level to surpass that milestone. His 628 AVCA-recognized victories rank him tied for 11^th among all active coaches. Gravel has multiple showdowns this season with other coaches in the 600-win club, as Tampa's Chris Catanach and old friend and rival Wick Colchagoff of Findlay both put their teams up against Hillsdale this season.
• Hillsdale remains one of the top teams receiving votes outside of the top 25 in the AVCA poll. The Chargers have been mentioned in all eleven AVCA NCAA DII Top 25 polls this season, including ten weeks as an honorable mention. The Chargers are one of six Midwest Region teams to be ranked or receiving votes in this week's poll, and the only squad from the G-MAC.
• The Chargers enter the 2024 season looking to extend their dominance of the G-MAC for another campaign. Hillsdale has won seven of the last eight  regular season titles and seven G-MAC tournament titles in a row since joining the conference in 2017, and are 113-8 all-time in G-MAC regular season matches, as well as a perfect 20-0 in G-MAC Tournament matches.
• Returning All-American Marilyn Popplewell became the 13^th member of an exclusive club at Hillsdale in a sweep of Ohio Dominican earlier this season, surpassing 1,000 kills for her career. Popplewell is the first Hillsdale player to reach this milestone since former teammate Karoline Shelton in 2021. The outside hitter broke out early in her career, leading the Chargers with 18 kills in Hillsdale's Midwest Regional championship victory over Ferris State as a freshman in 2021. In the last two years she's built off that initial success with back-to-back first-team All-G-MAC honors, putting up the eighth and ninth-best single season kills totals as a junior and sophomore, and setting single-match records for kills (28) in Hillsdale's five-set NCAA Tournament upset of Lewis in 2022 and aces with eight in a four-set win over Wayne State last season. A star in every facet of the game, she is currently second in the G-MAC in points per set, third in service aces per set, and fourth in kills per set through nine weeks.  She also ranks in the top 50 in the nation in points per set and kills per set at the NCAA DII level.
• Maizie Brown returns to Hillsdale for a rare fifth season thanks to a waiver created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and is already in the history books for the Chargers as one of the finest middle hitters in the program's duration. A four-time All-G-MAC honoree and the 2023 G-MAC Tournament MVP, Brown is fifth all-time in program history with 440 blocks entering this weekend. She set a single-season program record in 2023 with 44 solo blocks, surpassing 2012 All-American Lauren Grover's 39, and her 123 total blocks in 2023 rank eighth all-time. Brown also was named the G-MAC North Division Player of the Week for a strong performance in sweeps of Tiffin and Findlay last weekend.
• Senior Lauren Passaglia is on a tear, having been named G-MAC North Division Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks in October. A unique weapon for Hillsdale, as both an elite setter with two All-G-MAC honors, and a dangerous attacking player as a hitter as well. Passaglia proved her versatility again in mid-September by leading the Chargers to an undefeated record at their home "Net Results" Invite and earning Tournament MVP honors as well. She also was named to the 2024 All-Midwest Crossover team, and has twice been named the G-MAC's North Division Athlete of the Week this season. Her flexibility enables a variety of lineups and tactics for head coach Chris Gravel to deploy. A third-year starter, Passaglia ranks seventh all-time in program history in assists with 2,828 entering this weekend.
• Hillsdale has been excellent at the net this season, ranking 20^th nationally and first in the G-MAC in hitting percentage with .257, and is one of the top defensive teams in the G-MAC, leading the conference with 1.27 aces conceded per set and putting up just a .158 hitting percentage against.
• 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. four 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. There's also a pair of siblings who are both currently on the roster for the Chargers, as sophomore Greta Wise joins her older sister, Jaclyn, on the squad as well.
• Hillsdale has strong records against both opponents this weekend. The Chargers are 16-1 all-time against Walsh dating back to 2012, though the one loss did come on the road in a five-set match at the Cavaliers last season. The Chargers are also a perfect 17-0 all-time against Malone, and have swept four of their last five matches against the Pioneers.