Schedule
QF: #8 Tiffin (13-13, 7-8 G-MAC) at #1 Hillsdale (21-3, 14-1 G-MAC) | 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 19 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
 
Follow/Watch
Live Stats & Video | Tickets
 
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Tiffin Roster | Hillsdale Stats | Tiffin Stats |  G-MAC Stats | G-MAC Standings
 
Players to Watch
Hillsdale: #6 Amanda Hilliker, Sr., L/DS, Byron Center, MI/Byron Center (5th G-MAC in D/S); #8 Maizie Brown, Sr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (9th G-MAC in hitting %, 5th in B/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Sr., S/OH, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (6th G-MAC in A/S, 8th in Hitting %); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, Sr., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (4th G-MAC in K/S,1st in P/S, 4th in SA/S)
 
Tiffin: #8 Addison Conti, Sr., OH/DS/S, Tiffin, OH/Columbian (9th G-MAC in A/S); #10 Kaylee Freund, Jr., MH, New Bremen, OH/New Bremen (1st G-MAC in B/S); #13 Diana Heitkamp, Sr., DS, New Bremen, OH/New Bremen (6th G-MAC in D/S); #14 Kenedi Goon, Sr., RS, Ashland, OH/Crestview (8th G-MAC in B/S)
 
Scouting the Opposition
Tiffin: It's a rubber match in the first round of the G-MAC Tourney as top-seeded Hillsdale battles the only team to beat them in conference play.

Despite finishing last in the rugged G-MAC North Division, the Dragons earned their way into the tourney and are a dangerous squad, having handed Hillsdale and Findlay two of their combined five  conference losses. They have history as the only eight seed to win a first round match in the G-MAC Tourney, in 2022.

Tiffin has developed a reputation as a ferocious defensive team at the net, leading the conference in blocks per set by a wide margin. Middle Hitter Kaylee Freund is averaging a massive 1.41 blocks per set to lead the G-MAC individually, while fellow front-row player Kenedi Goon is also in the top 10 and sophomore Katelyn Owens puts up strong numbers as well.

The Dragons are pairing that excellent net defense with an improving offense, as Goon has been coming into her own as a hitter on the right side, while Freund and Olivia Karhoff are also contributing as well. Tiffin runs a 6-2 system with Addison Conti, Clare Kwiatkowski and Maggie Pavlansky all getting run as setters for the Dragons so far. Diana Heitkamp is the team's libero, averaging 4.41 digs per set.
 
Scouting the Chargers
After winning the G-MAC regular season title for the seventh time in eight seasons, Hillsdale now begins its journey on Tuesday toward an eighth straight G-MAC Tournament title with a quarterfinal match against a tough Tiffin squad. The Chargers are three wins away from the title and will have home court advantage throughout the G-MAC Tourney.

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

• No team has dominated the G-MAC Tournament like Hillsdale, which has captured seven straight titles, six on their home floor, and have never lost a G-MAC Tournament match since joining the conference in 2017. Hillsdale will have homecourt advantage for the entire tournament as it looks to run its title streak to eight and secure the conference's automatic bid to what would be their seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
• 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 630 AVCA-recognized victories rank him tied for 11^th among all active coaches. Gravel has had 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 entered the 2024 season looking to extend their dominance of the G-MAC for another campaign. Hillsdale has now 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 115-8 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 first in the G-MAC in points per set, fourth 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 449 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 on Oct. 11.
• 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 2,882 entering this weekend.
• Hillsdale has been excellent at the net this season, ranking 28^th nationally and second in the G-MAC in hitting percentage with .250.The Chargers also rank in the top 50 in the nation in kills per set (13.46), assists per set (12.26) and blocks per set (2.20).
• 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 a long history with Tiffin dating back to shared membership in the GLIAC with the Dragons prior to moving to the G-MAC. The Chargers avenged a five-set loss at Tiffin in October with a sweep of the Dragons at home in November. Tiffin's win earlier this season snapped a nine-match Hillsdale winning streak in the series. Hillsdale is 25-2 overall against the Dragons.