The Hillsdale College women's volleyball team went 3-0 in three home matches this weekend, playing just nine sets total and finishing things off with a senior day sweep of visiting Lake Erie on Saturday.

Hillsdale took a 25-21, 25-15, 25-23 victory, rallying from sizable deficits in sets one and three to take down the Storm and remain in first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with just four regular season matches to play.

The Chargers trailed by five points three separate times in set one, and were down 18-14 before a 7-0 run keyed by kills from seniors Jaclyn Wise and Lauren Passaglia got Hillsdale out in front for the first time in the set. After Lake Erie responded with three straight points to tie things up at 21, Hillsdale put the Storm away, scoring the final four points with kills from Passaglia and senior Maizie Brown to take a 1-0 lead.

Set two was Hillsdale's from start to finish, as three kills by Brown in the first seven points and a Passaglia service ace helped Hillsdale build an 8-2 lead that would never seriously be challenged in a runaway Chargers victory.

The third and final set was a battle from start to finish, as Hillsdale trailed for much of the set thanks to an uncharacteristic 11 attack errors. Down 22-20 late, the Chargers stepped up their game, with back-to-back hard hit kills by senior Marilyn Popplewell helping the Chargers pull ahead and eventually prevail in a 25-23 victory that wrapped up the match.

Passaglia led the Chargers in both kills (10) and assists (17) and also chipped in two block assists and five digs in another stellar match for Hillsdale, while Popplewell chipped in eight kills and 13 digs, Jaclyn Wise added a career-high seven kills on senior day, and Maizie Brown chipped in six kills and four total blocks.

Senior Amanda Hilliker led the Chargers defensively with 14 digs, Chloe Pierce chipped in seven digs and two aces, and Josie TeSlaa added six digs and 11 assists as well.

Before the match, Hillsdale honored its six player senior class --- Popplewell, Passaglia, Brown, Hilliker, Wise and Sydney Sahr, and all six players saw significant action in the match. Although it was senior day, the Chargers seniors have at least two more home matches on the schedule next week, and potentially more in the G-MAC Tournament as Hillsdale is currently in line to host at least one round.

The Chargers are now 17-1 overall, 9-1 in G-MAC play and alone in first in both the G-MAC North Division and the conference overall. Hillsdale can wrap up the division title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament next week with a sweep of Tiffin and Findlay at home, though it won't be easy as the Dragons already handed Hillsdale itsonly conference loss this year, and Findlay is the Chargers' closest competition for the division title at just a game back of the Chargers entering next weekend. Hillsdale kicks things off on Friday against Tiffin at 7 p.m.

Photo by Kenneth Gaudet