The Hillsdale College volleyball team authored a solid ending to the Courtyard by Mariott Tampa Classic on Saturday, pulling off an emotional win in the afternoon before giving second-ranked and host Tampa a tough fight in the evening.
Hillsdale heads back to the state of Michigan with a 2-1 record and confidence in its quality ahead of another tough invitational on their home floor next weekend.
The Chargers opened the day with a spirited win over a strong Texas Woman's University team, rallying from losses in the first two sets to reverse sweep the Pioneers and claim an important early-season victory.
Fifteen attack errors held the Chargers back in the first two sets as TWU took 25-21 and 25-22 victories to threaten the sweep. But Hillsdale showed its poise with its back against the wall in the final three sets, coming out swinging with the match on the line and committing just nine attack errors down the stretch while putting the clamps on the Pioneers offensively.
Trailing 13-11 in set three, Hillsdale reeled off a 9-1 run keyed by back-to-back kills from senior
Marilyn Popplewell to shift the momentum of the set and the match in its favor. In a back and forth set four, Hillsdale was on the attack down the stretch, with four kills and a service ace in their final six points to force a fifth and deciding set. Staying on the attack with the match on the line, Hillsdale seized control early in set five and never looked back.
Popplewell continued a sensational weekend by leading both teams in kills (23) and digs (15) while hitting an impressive .309, and junior
Adi Sysum also had a big night with seven kills and four block assists. Setter
Lauren Passaglia filled up the stat sheet with seven kills on .375 hitting, three service aces, nine digs and 30 assists, while senior
Maizie Brown added four kills and six total blocks.
Amanda Hilliker chipped in 15 digs and
Chloe Pierce 12 in the back-row for the Chargers in the victory.
In the nightcap, Hillsdale was outhit .228 to .164 by a powerhouse Tampa team that entered the weekend ranked second in the nation and is among the national title favorites at the Division II level. But the Chargers proved to be tough for the Spartans to put away and showed they belonged on the court in a competitive four-set match.
Despite finishing with 15 less kills in the match, it was Hillsdale that drew first blood, stunning the Spartans with five blocks and scoring four of the final five points after trailing 22-21 to steal the first set, 25-23.
After Tampa struck back with a dominant showing in the second set to even things up, Hillsdale fought tooth and nail in the third and fourth sets. Hillsdale trailed by as many as nine points in set three but fought off four set points to close within 24-22 before succumbing. With the match on the line in set four and trailing 23-19, Hillsdale reeled off four straight points, with kills by Popplewell and Brown, to tie the set at 23 and threaten a fifth set before the Spartans found the back-to-back points they needed to close out the match.
Popplewell, a returning All-American, finished the weekend strong against one of the top front lines in the country, hitting .273 with 17 kills and just missing a third straight double-double with nine digs. The senior also added two service aces and three total blocks. Brown chipped in eight kills and six total blocks as well, while Sysum capped one of the best days of her career with seven kills on hyper-efficient .462 hitting.
Passaglia finished with 22 assists and also chipped in five kills in the loss to Tampa, while Pierce led Hillsdale with 14 digs and Hilliker chipped in 13 and three service aces as well.
Hillsdale (2-1) now returns home to host the "Net Results Invite" next Friday and Saturday, with three matches scheduled for the weekend, starting with a showdown with 2023 Elite Eight qualifier Clarion at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13.
Photo by Patrick Clark
