The Collegian

Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson Senior Megan Howard returns a volley.

After devastating play over Parent Weekend, the Chargers bounced back Friday night from their first two losses of the season dominating Wayne State University and winning the match 3-0.

"We played well," head coach Chris Gravel said of their game against Wayne State. "We wanted a fresh start for the next few weeks heading into the conference tournament, and we got back on the right track. It was kind of bad for Wayne that we were a little ticked off, and we took our aggression out on them."

Hillsdale won the first two games each by a total of 30 points before finishing off the Warriors in game three. The Chargers are now 20-6 overall and tied for first place in the GLIAC South Division with Ashland at 11-2.

After their win over Wayne State, the Chargers are 14th in the nation.

Friday, Oct. 12, the team lost their first regular season GLIAC Conference match to Ferris State University. The Chargers suffered a second loss Saturday to their arch-rival,
Grand Valley State University. Previously, they had won their last 12 matches of the season and their last 30 regular season conference matches.

The play against Grand Valley went back-and-forth with the Chargers winning the first and fourth games forcing a deciding fifth. Unfortunately, the Lakers outlasted the Chargers, winning the fifth game 15-11.

"The first game, we came out with a bang," senior Jen Pilot said. "But we gave them a window to come back in by making mental errors. We let this window open wider in the following games, by playing more not to lose, rather than to just completely dominate them. We became afraid to make mistakes and lost that ferocity that we began the game with. Grand Valley didn't play to their potential, and we should have taken advantage of that, but instead we lost the game for ourselves."

The previous night, Hillsdale jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in Big Rapids, Mich., over the Ferris State before the Bulldogs turned game play around and won the final three games taking the match.

"Game three was our fault," Gravel said. "We should have won. They out played us, which I don't like. They played really well, especially in game five. It was a great match. We played well, but they just played better."

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