Senior Marilyn Popplewell hit an impressive career milestone for the Hillsdale College volleyball team as the Chargers kicked off G-MAC play with a road sweep of Ohio Dominican on Friday night.

With 16 kills in the match, Popplewell became the 13th player in Hillsdale College volleyball history to reach 1,000 kills for her career late in the third set. The senior, who was an honorable mention All-American in 2023 to the AVCA as well as a first-team All-G-MAC player, now has 1,003 for her career with much of her senior season still to play. In reaching the milestone, Popplewell joins former teammates Karoline Shelton and Allyssa Van Wienen in the exclusive club.

As a team, although Hillsdale swept past the Panthers, it was a relatively tight match befitting a match-up of two teams with big aspirations for the remainder of the season, as the Chargers needed extra points in the final two sets to pull out a 25-19, 26-24, 28-26 victory.

With Popplewell leading the way, however, Hillsdale was too much at the net for ODU, hitting .214 to the Panthers' .168 and pounding home 14 or more kills in every set, including an impressive 21 in the third and deciding set to take the win.

Hillsdale started the match in dominant fashion, jumping out to a 20-11 lead in set one and never trailing on the way to a 1-0 lead. ODU came out firing hard in the second set to try and even up the match, taking an early 8-4 lead and staying out in front for most of the set. Hillsdale clawed its way back into the set slowly, pulling ahead for the first time at 17-16 on a kill by Maizie Brown. The two teams went back and forth from there, until, at 24-all, the Chargers got a kill from middle hitter Adi Sysum and a service ace from sophomore Chloe Pierce to clinch a 2-0 lead.

The third and deciding set was another nip-and-tuck affair, as the Chargers hit the ball hard offensively to keep ODU off their toes with 21 kills, while the Panthers hung around deep into the set. ODU surged ahead late, 24-22, forcing Hillsdale to fight off two set points, but the Chargers turned the tables on a kill by Popplewell that sparked a three-point run, giving Hillsdale a 25-24 lead.

The Chargers needed three tries at match point to overcome a frenetic effort by the Panthers to stay alive, but back-to-back kills by Greta Wise and another from Popplewell broke a 26-all tie and sealed the victory.

Along with her team-high 16 kills, Popplewell also added 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season in another impressive performance. The senior's 4.28 kills per set through seven matches are top 20 in the nation for all of NCAA DII, and Popplewell is also among G-MAC leaders in digs per set and service aces per set.

Passaglia also gave strong offensive support with nine kills and three service aces on the night, pairing with 27 assists and seven digs as a 6-2 setter for the Chargers offense. Brown added seven kills and three blocks, two solo, as well, while Greta Wise also chipped in seven kills. 

Amanda Hilliker led the Chargers defensively with 17 digs, and Pierce chipped in 12 as well. 

Hillsdale is now 6-1 overall, 1-0 in G-MAC play, and continues its road weekend tomorrow at 4 p.m. with a tough match against a dangerous Cedarville team.

Photo by Vinny Hill