The Hillsdale College volleyball team is back to .500 for the first time since the first day of the 2025 season thanks to a strong performance over a three game roadstand this weekend, capped off by a four-set victory over host Lake Erie on Saturday evening.
After three relatively close sets, two of which went Hillsdale's way, the Chargers closed out the match with their best set of the weekend in the fourth set, rolling to a dominant 25-9 victory to clinch the match. Hillsdale hit .400 in the deciding set with 14 kills while forcing Lake Erie into more errors than successful kills offensivley.
The Chargers never trailed in the first two sets to go up 2-0 in the match, but Lake Erie proved to be a feisty opponent that didn't let Hillsdale get comfortable with the lead. In the first set, the Chargers led by as many as six points and were up 22-19 late but had to scramble to scratch out the final three points after Lake Erie fought back to tie the set at 22-all, eventually winning 25-23. Set two wasn't as tight, but, after Hillsdale took a nine-point lead midway through the set, Lake Erie closed the gap to five and made it a battle to a 25-18 finish.
After Lake Erie got on the board with a hard-fought 25-23 victory in Set 3, however, the Chargers woke up and extinguished any hope of an upset with their excellent set four performance.
Hillsdale was the better team offensively in the match, finishing with 56 kills to Lake Erie's 41. Sophomore
Caroline Lanicek had a stellar match for the Chargers, finishing with a career-high 14 kills and a .406 percentage to lead Hillsdale offensively, while fellow sophomore
Jenna Southland chipped in eight kills, four total blocks and two aces, and
Hannah Baker added seven kills and 10 digs.
Libero
Chloe Pierce had one of the best matches of her three-year career on the floor for Hillsdale to lead the Chargers defensively, finishing with a career high 33 digs, and senior
Josie TeSlaa chipped in nine digs and led the Chargers with 38 assists.
Grace Drake chipped in five kills and 10 assists as well for Hillsdale.
The Chargers are now 10-10 overall and, at 8-3 in G-MAC play, have locked up a spot in the G-MAC Tournament for the ninth straight season. Now Hillsdale will try and earn their way into the top four and snag hosting rights for a quarterfinal contest in the G-MAC Tourney, and the Chargers' next match is the most critical to try and accomplish that goal, as Hillsdale faces off against G-MAC East Division leader Walsh at home next Friday at 7 p.m. With the Cavaliers still facing several tough matches in the final two weeks of the season, Walsh is the most likely team for Hillsdale to overtake for a top four spot, but there's no shot of that happening if Hillsdale can't first defeat the Cavaliers on its home court. That makes Friday's match one of the biggest remaining on the calendar for both squads.
