Schedule

RV Hillsdale (5-1, 0-0 G-MAC) at Ohio Dominican (3-4, 0-0 G-MAC) | 6 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 20 | Alumni Hall| Columbus, OH
RV Hillsdale (5-1, 0-0 G-MAC) at Cedarville (3-3, 0-0 G-MAC) | 4 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 21 |Callan Center| Cedarville, OH
 
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Additional Info

Hillsdale Roster | ODU Roster | Cedarville Roster | Hillsdale Stats | ODU Stats | Cedarville Stats | G-MAC Stats | G-MAC Standings
 
Players to Watch

Hillsdale:  #6 Amanda Hilliker, Sr., L/DS, Byron Center, MI/Byron Center (6^th G-MAC in D/S); #8 Maizie Brown, Sr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (9^th G-MAC in B/S); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Sr., S/OH, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (6^th G-MAC in A/S, 3^rd in hitting %, 11^th in SA/S); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, Sr., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (2^nd G-MAC in K/S, 1^st in P/S, 1^st in SA/S, 6^th in hitting %)

Ohio Dominican: #15 Lauren Lucas, Sr., OH, Grove City, OH/Grove City/Millersville (9^th G-MAC in K/S, 10^th in P/S); #17 Bailey Christiansen, Jr., MB, Delaware, OH/Hayes (6^th G-MAC in B/S, 8^th in hitting %); #20 Liv Fenstermaker, Fr., L, Galena, OH/Worthington Christian (7^th G-MAC in D/S); #22 Grace Zinchuk, Jr., MB, Schaumburg, IL/Schaumburg (10^th G-MAC in B/S)
 
Cedarville: #3 Kaley Matney, Jr., S, Fort Wayne, IN/Carroll (4^th G-MAC in A/S); ##11 Haley Koch, Jr., MH, Oconomowoc, WI/Oconomowoc (2^nd G-MAC in SA/S); #12 Madelyn Hensley, So., OH, Dover, DE/Homeschool (5^th G-MAC in K/S, 6^th in P/S); #18 Alivia Rutt, Fr., L/DS, Elizabethtown, PA/Mount Cavalry Christian (10^th G-MAC in D/S)
 
Scouting the Opposition

Ohio Dominican: A G-MAC Tournament finalist in 2023, ODU brings several key players back from that squad as it looks to break through in 2024.  The Panthers were tabbed as a legitimate contender to win the newly-created South Division in the G-MAC Preseason poll and are off to a 3-4 start after two weekends that include two victories over regional foe Wayne State.

ODU returns essentially every attacking player of note from its 2023 squad, led by senior outside hitter Lauren Lucas, an All-G-MAC player last year who keyed the Panthers' tourney run. A trio of experienced juniors, Jenna Peters, Ashley Aselage and Ashley Chmielewski, all add depth to a balanced ODU attack, while middles Grace Zinchuk and Bailey Christiansen also return and are off to solid starts.

Along with their front row, ODU also returns its two setters from 2023 in its 6-2 system, Gabrielle Kirker and Saige Avery, as well as top backup Macie Bowden. The one new face in ODU's lineup is freshman Liz Fenstermaker, who has done a decent job of replacing multi-year starter Kelsey Shoup, who graduated this past spring.

Cedarville: The Chargers also see the other top contender in the South Division this weekend, as voters in the preseason were split between the Panthers and Yellow Jackets. Cedarville went 3-0 at its home invite before going 0-3 on a Florida trip to enter the weekend at .500

Like ODU, Cedarville was a young team in 2023 and as a consequence returns its top five attackers in kills per set wholesale from last year's squad. Sophomore Madelyn Hensley, last season's G-MAC Freshman of the Year and one of the top outside hitters in the conference, leads the way, and is joined on the outside by junior Cassi Shields and senior Greta Blakemore. In the middle, returning All-G-MAC honoree Janae Heegard and Haley Koch form a solid combination.

Setter Kaley Matney returns for her third season as the starting setter for the Yellow Jackets as well. In the back row, freshman Alivia Rutt takes over as libero looking to address what has been a weakness for Cedarville against the top teams in the G-MAC in the past couple of seasons.

Along with a solid offense, Cedarville has a reputation as one of the top serving teams in the G-MAC, and that remains a potent weapon in their arsenal in 2024, as the Yellow Jackets' 2.30 aces per set is second only to Hillsdale among G-MAC teams so far.
 
Scouting the Chargers

Hillsdale enters conference play off a strong performance in its home invitational this past weekend, and has a 5-1 record with its only loss coming to the nation's top-ranked team, Tampa, in a competitive four-set match.

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. 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 junior Josie 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

• 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 611 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 (1,204 victories) and old friend and rival Wick Colchagoff of Findlay (611 victories) both put their teams up against Hillsdale this season.
• Hillsdale is an honorable mention team for the third straight week in the AVCA NCAA DII Top 25. The Chargers are one of seven Midwest Region teams to be ranked or receiving votes in this week's poll, and the only G-MAC squad. The Chargers also were one of the top vote-getters in the 2024 G-MAC Preseason Coaches poll, and named the favorite to win the North Division.
• Three Hillsdale players were recognized as All-Tournament honorees this past weekend as the Chargers went 3-0 against solid competition at their home invitational. Senior Lauren Passaglia won MVP honors for the Chargers, while senior Marilyn Popplewell and junior Adi Sysum both made the All-Tournament team as well.
• The Chargers enter the 2024 season looking to extend their dominance of the G-MAC for another campaign. Hillsdale has won six of the last seven regular season titles and seven G-MAC tournament titles in a row since joining the conference in 2017, and are 103-7 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 is off to a great start in 2024, with G-MAC Player of the Week honors after opening weekend and All-Tournament team honors after Hillsdale's home invitational this past weekend. 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. She currently leads the G-MAC in service aces per set and points per set after one weekend.
• 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 ranks seventh all-time in program history with 396 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.
• Senior Lauren Passaglia is 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 this past weekend by leading the Chargers to an undefeated record at their home "Net Results" Invite and earning Tournament MVP honors as well. 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 2,478 entering this weekend.
• 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 is 18-1 all-time against Ohio Dominican and has not lost to the Panthers since joining the G-MAC in 2017. The Chargers won both meetings with the Panthers last season, including a five-set victory in the G-MAC Tournament final. Hillsdale also won both meetings with Cedarville in sweeps last season, and is 13-2 all time against the Yellow Jackets, but Cedarville has historically been a tough out and is one of only two conference members to beat Hillsdale multiple times since the Chargers joined the G-MAC in 2017.