Schedule

RV Hillsdale (0-0, 0-0 G-MAC) vs New Haven (0-0, 0-0 GLIAC) | 3 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
RV Hillsdale (0-0, 0-0 G-MAC) vs Texas Woman's University (0-0, 0-0 LSC) | 1:15 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 7 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
RV Hillsdale (0-0, 0-0 G-MAC) vs #2 Tampa (0-0, 0-0 SSC) | 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 7 | Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, FL
 
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Additional Info

Hillsdale Roster | New Haven Roster | TWU Roster | Tampa Roster | 2023 Hillsdale Stats | 2023 New Haven Stats | 2023 TWU Stats | 2023 Tampa Stats | G-MAC Stats | G-MAC Standings
 
Players to Watch

Hillsdale:  #8 Maizie Brown, Sr., MH, Portage, MI/Central (4x All-G-MAC, 2023 G-MAC Tourney MVP); #10 Emory Braswell, Jr., OH, Atoka, TN/Tipton Christian (2^nd TM in K/S in 2023); #11 Lauren Passaglia, Sr., S/OH, Cary, IL/Cary Grove (2x All-G-MAC); #13 Marilyn Popplewell, Sr., OH, Mason, OH/Mason (2023 AVCA HM All-American, AVCA All-Region, 2x 1^st Team All-G-MAC)

New Haven: #5 Katherine Rank, So., MB, Parker, CO/Ponderosa (1^st TM in B/S, 3^rd TM in K/S); #9 Grace Juergens, So., OH, Lockport, IL/Lockport Twp. (2023 NE-10 All-Rookie Team); #13 Peyton Mast, So., OPP, Park Hills, KY/Notre Dame Academy (2023 NE-10 All-Rookie Team); #15 Macy Brown, Sr., OH, Cadillac, MI/Cadillac (2023 AVCA HM All-American, East Region PoY, NE-10 PoY, 1^st TM All-Region, 1^st TM All-NE-10)

Texas Woman's.: #10 Tori Woods, Jr., PIN, Brookston, IN/West Lafayette (2023 All-LSC HM); #14 Grace Reynolds, Jr., S, Martinsville, IN/Martinsville/Florida Gulf Coast U. (2023 LSC All-Tournament Team; LSC Newcomer of the Year); #20 Luna Franca, Sr., L/DS, Belo Horizonte, Brasil/Panola College (2023 All-LSC HM); #24 Kady Hansen, So., MB, Stillwater, OK/Home School (2023 2^nd TM All-LSC)

Tampa: #5 JJ Ramirez, Sr., L/DS, Fleming Island, FL/Fleming Island (2023 AVCA 3^rd Team All-American, SSC Defensive Player of the Year, 1^st TM All-SSC); #6 Jenna Davis, Jr., MB, St. Petersburg, FL/St. Petersburg (2023 2^nd Team All-SSC); #8 Nathaly Perez, Jr., OH, St. Tegucigalpa, Honduras/International School of Tegucigalpa (2023 AVCA 1^st TM All-American, 1^st TM All-SSC); #15 Kalli Cors, Sr., OH/RS, St. Petersburg, FL/Osceola (2023 AVCA HM All-American, 1^st TM All-SSC)
 
Scouting the Opposition

The Hillsdale College volleyball team heads to the Florida gulf coast this weekend to kick off the 2024 season with a challenging invitational that includes three matches against top-notch competition.

Hillsdale starts the weekend on Friday afternoon with a matchup against New Haven at 3 p.m. at the University of Tampa. Also nicknamed the Chargers, New Haven is a Connecticut-based squad that's been a power in the East Region for decades, with five Northeast 10 championships in the past decade, including last year, and 14 total NCAA DII regional crowns in program history.

New Haven is coming off a 23-10 season that saw the program win the NE10 Tournament and bow out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Michigan native Macy Brown is a returning All-American outside hitter and the East Region Player of the Year and leads a potent attack as the Chargers return their top four kills generators from 2023, including sophomores Grace Juergens and Peyton Mast.

The Chargers should have a potent offense but have big holes to fill at setter with the graduation of All-American Michelle Henwood and at libero with digs leader Rilee Jessee also departing. New Haven has a mix of holdovers and freshmen battling for the job at both critical spots.

Hillsdale returns to the court on Saturday afternoon with a match against Texas Woman's University. The Pioneers missed the NCAA Tournament in the tough South Central Region in 2023, but a 19-9 record was their best since their last tourney appearance in 2015 and TWU is hoping for a breakthrough this season.

TWU must replace an All-American outside hitter in the graduated Kaia Saylor but returns real firepower up front in junior Tori Woods and sophomore Kady Hansen, who finished just behind Saylor in kills per set last season. The Pioneers have continuity in all phases of the game with a returning All-Lone Star Conference libero in Luna Franca, and returning setters in LSC Newcomer of the Year Grace Reynolds and Kiana Reed. A battle-tested team, TWU should be competitive in Florida.

Hillsdale wraps up the weekend with the stiffest test currently on their schedule for the 2024 season, a showdown with the host of the tournament and a national powerhouse that enters the season ranked second in the country, the University of Tampa.

A four-time NCAA DII national champion and eight-time finalist, Tampa is coming off a 32-2 season in 2023 that saw the Spartans advance to the NCAA DII Final Four, and with several pieces returning to try and bring home its first title since 2021. The Spartans must replace All-American middle hitter Mackenzie Dufresne, but return two All-American hitters on the outside in first-teamer Nathaly Perez and honorable mention Kalli Cors, as well as a third All-American and the Sunshine State Conference Defensive Player of the Year in libero JJ Ramirez.

Tampa returns one of its pair of setters in UC-Riverside transfer Zoey Seput, and will look to pair her with incoming freshman Kayla Dondero.
 
 
Scouting the Chargers

Hillsdale enters the 2024 season in the midst of the longest run of sustained success in program history. As a new campaign gets under way, there's no indication that that run is going to end any time soon.

The Chargers return a deep and talented roster full of meaningful postseason experience in 2024 as it looks to capture its eighth-straight G-MAC Tournament title, win its seventh regular season title in eight seasons, and earn what would be its 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 Emory Braswell, 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 609 AVCA-recognized victories rank him 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 (1,201 victories) and old friend and rival Wick Colchagoff of Findlay (608 victories) both put their teams up against Hillsdale this season.
• Hillsdale opens the season as an honorable mention team in the AVCA DII Preseason top 25 for the second-straight year. The Chargers are one of eight Midwest Region teams to be ranked or receiving votes in the preseason 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.
• 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.
• Marilyn Popplewell enters her third season as a starter and fourth as a major contributor in 2024. 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 finished the 2023 season with honorable mention All-American honors from the AVCA, and should be set up for an even bigger year in 2024.
• 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 377 blocks entering the 2024 season. 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 led the G-MAC in hitting percentage in 2023 and should be a force in 2024.
• 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. 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 2,338 entering the 2024 season.
• 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 faces off against two opponents for the first time this weekend, as the Chargers play New Haven in a never-before-seen Chargers vs Chargers matchup and also challenge tradition-rich Tampa in an inaugural match between the two teams. Texas Woman's University and Hillsdale have met twice before – on Aug. 28, 2009 in a neutral-site matchup in Colorado, and in April 15 in Texas as a part of the AVCA National Tournament during the spring Covid-19 season. Hillsdale took both matches in sweeps, 3-0.